The Muslim Brotherhood said yesterday it is launching a worldwide donation campaign for a Hamas-led Palestinian government in the face of US efforts to stop the flow of money to the hard-line group.
The pledge by the Brotherhood, which has branches and affiliated groups in 86 countries, comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice started a Middle East shuttle yesterday to caution regional powers against giving money to a Hamas-led government. The US and Europe, the world's two largest donors to the Palestinians, said they will not provide funding directly to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas heads the government.
"This is injustice and an attempt to impose a blockade on the Palestinians," said the Brotherhood's supreme leader, Mohammed Mahdi Akef.
"We will appeal to each and every Muslim to help the Palestinians in the face of this unjust and fierce campaign [against Hamas]," Akef told reporters.
Another Brotherhood leader said the group will ask its supporters to donate one quarter of their income to support Hamas.
"The Muslim Brotherhood [supporters] are ready to give a quarter of their income of more to support the Palestinian cause and back Hamas," Mohammed Hilal told the Cairo-based al-Masry al-Yawm newspaper.
Arab and Islamic governments are also trying to make up any shortfall in Palestinian finances caused by a cutoff in Western aid.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference, a 57-member grouping of Muslim nations, plans to provide institutional and financial aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said yesterday.
"We will [provide funding]. I have already spoken to some [OIC] leaders about it. We want to help, too," he told reporters.
Also yesterday, foreign ministers from several Arab countries were to meet in Algiers to examine a plan to send about US$50 million a month to the Palestinian Authority. A final decision is not expected until Arab leaders meet in a summit next month in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Meanwhile, in fresh violence yesterday, Israeli troops carried out a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus and ambushed gunmen from Islamic Jihad, killing two, including the group's West Bank commander, Palestinian sources said. Four gunmen were wounded.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
RSS