FINANCING THEIR TAKEOVER OF GAZA WAS THEIR OTHER COUP: The LA Times has an opinion piece on how "cash-strapped" Hamas financed the Gaza coup. Matthew Levitt of The Washington Institute and formerly of the Treasury Department writes:

MILITARY insurrections cost money. To take over the Gaza Strip last month, Hamas had to pay salaries, procure weapons, manufacture rockets, buy help from local crime families, bribe opponents, print leaflets and banners, produce media propaganda and even order up Hamas hats and bandanas.

Part of the answer is the smuggling tunnels along the border with Egypt--but that is not the only smuggling route available to Hamas. Levitt points out another route available to Hamas, which does not bode well for the future of Fatah and the West Bank.

The Hamas political bureau, headquartered in Damascus under the leadership of Khalid Mishal and Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, has long raised funds to arm militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to declassified U.S. intelligence. The bureau has smuggled weapons overland into the West Bank from Jordan, by sea in waterproof barrels dropped off the Gaza shore by ships launched from Syria and Lebanon and underground through the Rafah tunnels. In recent months, Iran has been funding these operations.

But in addition to the tunneling and smuggling, Hamas has continued to be able to rely on 'charitable donations' as well--even while being designated as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.

For example, last month Israeli authorities indicted four members of the A-Ram Charity Committee north of Jerusalem on charges of funding Hamas. According to the indictment, about $237,000 was transferred to the A-Ram Committee in the last year by the Charity Coalition (also known as the Union of Good), described as a Saudi Arabian-based umbrella organization for groups funding Hamas.

Levitt offers a number of concrete suggestions for Egypt, the US and the EU to take--but until those countries develop the diligence to actually take note and respond to what is happening. Hamas is going to become a greater threat to the area.

Technorati Tag: Hamas and Gaza and Egypt and Rafah.