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Occupied Jerusalem: The United States has quietly started a campaign projected to cost up to $42 million (Dh154.4 million) to bolster Hamas's political opponents ahead of possible early Palestinian elections, say officials linked to the programme.
The plan to promote alternatives to Hamas includes funding to help restructure President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group and provide training and strategic advice to politicians and secular parties opposed to Hamas Islamists.
"This project supports [the] objective to create democratic alternatives to authoritarian or radical Islamist political options," one official US document obtained by Reuters said.
Parliamentary vote
The US campaign coincides with signs that Abbas is considering sacking the government led by Hamas, which defeated Fatah in January elections, in a process that could lead to a new parliamentary vote.
US officials and consultants say the effort is being conducted without fanfare in order to protect the Palestinians who are receiving US help, some already branded by Hamas leaders as collaborators with Washington and Israel.
"We don't operate with firecrackers and neon signs to attract attention to ourselves," said one of the contractors working with Fatah on behalf of the US State Department.
US funds will also be used to encourage "watchdog" groups and local journalists to investigate the activities of the Hamas-led government and parliament. Up to $5 million (Dh18.35 million) would support private Palestinian schools offering an alternative to the Hamas-controlled public education system.
In a response, US Consul General Jacob Walles said: "There is nothing new here. The US has operated programmes in the West Bank and Gaza for many years to promote the development of political parties and civil society organisations."
The documents obtained by Reuters repeatedly call these new programmes that began in recent weeks.
"We are not promoting any particular party. In fact, we will work with any party as long as it is not affiliated with a terrorist organisation," Walles said.
There would be no direct funding of parties, he stressed.
Some Hamas leaders have accused Abbas and Fatah of serving the interests of Israel's ally, the United States, which has led a Western aid embargo to force Hamas to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past accords with the Jewish state.
Senior Hamas political leader and lawmaker Fat'hi Hammad called the US money part of a plot to bring down the Hamas-led government. "It is a challenge that we are aware of and we will confront it," he told Reuters.
Cash-strapped
In US budget terms, $42 million is a small amount.
But in the cash-strapped Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank, it could go a long way, over three times the total spent by the main parties and candidates in the January election.
Ahead of that election, the United States tried to help the then Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, but critics said the push came too late to assist the long-dominant movement, which was handicapped by infighting and accusations of corruption.
Meanwhile exiled Hamas political leader Khalid Mashaal said from Damascus that his group would not recognise Israel, but it wants to join a national unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' rival Fatah faction.
He also said Hamas was ready to swap captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for Palestinian prisoners.
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