DALLAS – A turf war between competing U.S.-based Palestinian charities in 1994 was settled by Mousa Abu Marzook, a Hamas leader who serves as its deputy political director.
In testimony Tuesday, jurors in the Hamas-support trial of five former officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) heard FBI recordings showing Marzook sided with the foundation over a Mississippi-based educational fund. HLF, prosecutors say, then became the designated fundraising arm for Hamas in the United States.
The first attempt to settle the dispute between the Texas-based HLF and the Al Aqsa Education Fund first was handled by the Palestine Committee, a group created by the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. to help Hamas. It included HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and a think tank called the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). Marzook had personal and financial ties with all three entities.
But Abdelhaleem Ashqar felt that HLF wasn't sending enough money to help the cause and arranged for Sheik Jamil Hamami, then a Hamas leader, to come to the U.S. in 1993 for fundraisers. HLF balked. Ashqar had an organization called the Al Aqsa Education Fund that was organizing Hamami's visit. Read more ...
In testimony Tuesday, jurors in the Hamas-support trial of five former officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) heard FBI recordings showing Marzook sided with the foundation over a Mississippi-based educational fund. HLF, prosecutors say, then became the designated fundraising arm for Hamas in the United States.
The first attempt to settle the dispute between the Texas-based HLF and the Al Aqsa Education Fund first was handled by the Palestine Committee, a group created by the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S. to help Hamas. It included HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and a think tank called the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). Marzook had personal and financial ties with all three entities.
But Abdelhaleem Ashqar felt that HLF wasn't sending enough money to help the cause and arranged for Sheik Jamil Hamami, then a Hamas leader, to come to the U.S. in 1993 for fundraisers. HLF balked. Ashqar had an organization called the Al Aqsa Education Fund that was organizing Hamami's visit. Read more ...
Source: IPT News
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