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Source: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2653
Keeping USAID Funds out of Terrorist Hands
[Washington Institute] Matthew Levitt - Foreign aid is an important and effective tool for buttressing allies, alleviating poverty and suffering, supporting key foreign policy objectives. Considering that several agency-approved aid recipients have been linked to terrorist groups in recent years, USAID's proposed new partner-vetting system is a welcome and overdue development. USAID's otherwise laudable record is tainted by a series of awards to entities with established ties to terrorist groups such as the Hamas-controlled zakat (charity) committees and the Islamic University of Gaza. Documents made public in the ongoing prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation and several of its leaders -- accused of funding Hamas -- reveal that as recently as December 2002, USAID "cleared" several charity committees to receive funding despite information publicly tying them to Hamas. These included the main committees in the West Bank towns of Jenin, Qalqilya, Hebron, Tulkarem, and Nablus.