"Ramallah – Ma'an – Palestinian caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday revealed that his government has decided to close 103 charitable societies.
Israeli website, Ynetnews, reported that Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, for freezing the funds of a hundred associations affiliated to Hamas.
Fayyad alleged that the closure was for 'legal reasons'. The PM claimed that the beneficiaries of the societies will be compensated.
In a meeting with representatives of local newspapers, Fayyad said that the interior minister, Abdur Razzaq Mahmoud al-Yahya, ordered the closure of the charities after deeming them guilty of financial misconduct.
Fayyad said that al-Yahya, with the cooperation of humanitarian organisations, discovered that the charities had committed serious financial and administrative errors, which contravene the rules of charitable societies and the law.
Fayyad urged the beneficiaries of the charities to go to the ministry of interior where they will receive compensation.
Hamas reaction
A spokesman for the Hamas movement, Fawzi Barhoum, said "Fayyad's decision to close the charitable societies of Hamas is aimed at forcing the movement to kneel and to put pressure on Hamas."
In a statement, Barhoum added that the decision to close these societies is part of "the war launched by Abbas and Fayyad on the movement's members and supporters as well as on establishments including charitable societies."
The statement accused both Abbas and Fayyad of obeying Israeli and American orders "to make the Palestinian people bow and starve and to accept the weak solutions to be imposed on them in the autumn summit."
Barhoum also said that all the societies that have been closed were licensed and were working according to Palestinian law.
"The excuses of Fayyad are not more than justifications to close these societies and to isolate Hamas on orders from Israel.""
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