GAZA
CITY, August 28 (IslamOnline.net) - Thousands of Palestinian orphans and
destitute families took to the streets of Palestinian cities on
Thursday, August 28, to protest the Palestinian Authority's move to
freeze the bank accounts of 18 charities suspected of having links with
the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
They
assembled before the Palestinian Legislative Council, urging the PA to
backtrack on this decision, which would distress thousands of
Palestinian families, who depend on monthly allotments provided by the
charitable societies.
"I
am an orphan…Am I a terrorist?" Read one of the banners which
were written in Arabic, English and French.
"Had
all Palestinian children and orphans become terrorists? We depend on
these frozen money (provided by charitable societies), which helps us
buy our food and clothes…In doing so, the PA will create a generation
of beggars," another orphan lamented.
Six
charitable societies had their bank accounts frozen Thursday by
Palestinian authorities after similar decision targeting 12 others was
made on Sunday, August 24.
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One
of many Palestinian mothers who protested the freeze move
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The
affected societies include: the Islamic Association, El-Mojamma
al-Islami, Al-Salah, the Muslim Yong Women, Al-Nour, Student Friends,
the Center of Science and Culture, Zakat al-Rahma, Al-Aqsa, the
Charitable Committee for Zakat and Relief, the Social Charitable
Committee and the Social Care Committee.
"We
totally depend on the monthly allotments provided by Zakat Al-Rahma and
I have no other source to eke out a living," said one of the many
mothers marching in the demonstration which also included handicapped
children in wheelchairs and blind people.
"We
exhort the PA to renege on this abhorrent decision, which would have its
toll on thousands of families," she said.
Mohidin
al-Naggar, the deputy director of Zakat al-Rahma, told IslamOnline.net
that all relief projects had come to a cessation after the PA decision,
warning that up to 2000 orphans would be left without breadwinners.
"What
adds insult to injury is that the academic year is drawing closer and
the families of course cannot afford buying uniforms or textbooks,"
he said.
Naggar
urged those with "live conscious" to help the Palestinian
orphans and poor "because the money they used to get from these
charities is one of their rights in life."
Unfair
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Handicapped
Palestinians also took part in the march
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In
Gaza City, some five thousand children and mothers slammed the PA
decision as "unfair," urging Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat to intervene and reverse it.
"School
are knocking the doors and I want to buy my children the necessary books
and uniforms," complained Um Mahmmoud, a mother of 12 school
children.
Amir
Abu al-Amrin, the director of the Al-Mojamma al-Islami, said he was
taken aback by the PA decision.
"It
came as surprise to me and the society has not been formally notified.
We knew it when Palestinians went to get their monthly allowances but
were blocked by an order from the Palestinian attorney general," he
said.
In
the West Bank city of Khan Yunis, the marchers carried banners reading:
"Leave the orphans to live in peace…Let them live…Get your hand
off the food of our children…The Palestinian children orphans are not
like other children."
Orphan
Ahmad Abu Regila, 14, carried a banner showing two orphans in an
appalling condition with a phrase in boldface saying: "What is my
guilt?"
The
orphans and mothers further appealed to the governor of Khan Yunis that
"the decision deprived us of our sole source of livelihood, which
provides us with a decent life…We beg you not to leave us a prey for
poverty and illnesses."
In
Rafah, scores of orphans and mothers joined their brothers in other
cities carrying banners like: "Enough is enough…Let us live with
dignity…No for bread confiscation…Do not kill our dreams…What is
my guilt as a child?...Who will cater to those orphans…and Do not turn
us into beggars."
The
PA move came hard on the heels of a White House decision to
freeze and block the assets of six Hamas leaders and five
pro-Palestinians charities in Europe and Lebanon.
Hamas
dismissed the Bush's decision as "some kind of a robbery and is
tantamount to a declaration of war on Islam."
The
France-based Committee for Palestinian Charity and Aid (CBSP), one of
the five charities targeted by the American move, said the freeze
decision meant starving
thousands of orphans in the occupied Palestinian territories.
