European charity funds 'diverted to Palestinian terrorists'

Millions of euros donated by European charities to help the Palestinian poor were diverted to fund terror and support the families of suicide bombers, Israeli prosecutors have claimed.

Ahmed Salatna, 43, a Hamas activist from Jenin, was remanded in custody by a military court charged with distributing 9 million euros ($15m) for such purposes over the past nine years. The recipients are alleged to have included the family of a young man who blew himself up in a Jerusalem pizza parlour in August 2001, killing 15 people and wounding 107.

The charge sheet named British charities Human Appeal International and Interpal, the French CBST, the Italian ABSPT and the Al Aqsa Foundation, which operates in Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden.

Ahmed Salatna, who has directed an Islamic charity in Jenin since 1996, was arrested in September. A police spokesman said Salatna directly transferred the European funds to Hamas cells, suicide bombers and their families.

Investigators were unable, at this stage, to link specific donations to specific attacks or other activities, the spokesman said. They were considering whether to seek the co-operation of Interpol and the British police.

In West Bank primaries for next January's Palestinian parliamentary elections, Marwan Barghouti, 46, a Tanzim militia commander serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison, won a resounding 96 per cent of Fatah votes in the Ramallah district. Other leading militants won in Jenin and Nablus.

Barghouti's success was hailed as a victory for Fatah's younger generation, which accuses the old guard that returned from exile with Yasser Arafat after the 1993 Oslo Accords of failing the Palestinian people.

Barghouti's wife Fadwa said: "This proves that Barghouti is a leader and not a terrorist. It is a victory for democracy in Fatah. He told me if we succeed in democratising Fatah, we will succeed in democratising Palestinian society."

Saad Nimr, who managed the Barghouti campaign, called for his release. So did Yossi Beilin, architect of the Oslo breakthrough and leader of the left-wing Meretz Party.

- INDEPENDENT