Focus of Palestinian Uprising Shifting From Rocks to Money

Money is increasingly becoming a central issue in the more than six-month-old uprising by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In the early stages of the conflict, involving spontaneous demonstrations against Israeli rule and closures of shops, actions were largely unorganized and took place without much consideration for the economic consequences.

But now, both Israelis and Palestinians agree, the uprising, or intifada , is moving into a second phase in which economic questions will play a major role.

Pamphlets issued by the Unified National Leadership for the Uprising in the Occupied Territories have spoken recently of moving from acts of stone-throwing to civil disobedience.

Specifically, they have spoken of Palestinian civil servants such as police and tax collectors resigning from the Israeli-run Civil Administration for the occupied territories, as well as developing home-grown jobs to lure workers from going to work at Jewish settlements and perhaps, eventually, from jobs inside Israel.

But it is widely acknowledged that the campaign will have little positive result until the Palestinians can be offered alternative work or unemployment compensation.

In Algiers earlier this month, the Palestine Liberation Organization received pledges of huge amounts of aid from oil-rich Arab countries to help keep the uprising afloat. While no amount was publicly specified, figures mentioned have ranged from $120 million to $650 million.

One sign of Israeli concern about the money question has been a recent crackdown on the movement of funds into the occupied territories both by residents returning from abroad and by institutions financed from outside.

Previously, residents merely had to declare amounts of more than $5,000 that they were bringing into the country. In February, the amount was lowered to $1,000, and in March, the Civil Administration decreed that no Arab resident of the occupied territories could import more than $1,000 without permission.

In March and April, dozens of people were stopped at Ben-Gurion Airport or at the bridge across the Jordan River and had money they were carrying in excess of $1,000 seized. Those affected included at least 10 American citizens, who lost a total of up to $85,000.

The U.S. Embassy in Israel has been pressing the Israeli government, so far without success, to return the money to the Americans so they can at least send the funds back to the United States.

An official of the Civil Administration, speaking on the condition that he not be quoted by name, said the changes in regulations came about to ensure that money coming in did not come from the PLO or “other hostile elements” to help finance the uprising.

In an embarrassment to both Israel and Jordan, it was disclosed that Raghda Masri, whose husband was assassinated after accepting an Israeli appointment as mayor of the West Bank town of Nablus two years ago, had been caught smuggling huge amounts of currency from Jordan for the PLO, according to Civil Administration officials. Masri was released, but the money was confiscated, and she was “given to understand that she should spend some time in Jordan,” an official said.

In addition to stopping “several dozens” of people from bringing currency into the West Bank and Gaza, the authorities have also clamped tough new restrictions on the movement of money to businesses and institutions. In effect, the same limits were imposed on them as on individuals, but they must apply to the Civil Administration in advance before receiving any transfers from abroad.

Medhat Kenaan, manager of the Cairo Amman Bank, the only authorized Arab bank in the occupied territories, said he had submitted a long list of requests for transfers in February but has received only a handful of approvals.

In addition, the Civil Administration rejected outright any request to transfer gifts from Aramco, the Saudi Arabian oil company, to institutions in the West Bank, as well as money destined for the Red Crescent, the Muslim equivalent of the Red Cross.

The new regulations have hit hard at small businessmen who export agriculture and other products to Jordan and neighboring countries but are now unable to bring back to the West Bank the money they are paid.

Dr. Gabi Baramki, acting president of Birzeit University in the West Bank, said that because of the new restrictions, the university has been unable to meet its $150,000 monthly payroll for four months and has had to abandon its building program.

“It’s a major problem,” Baramki said. “This is not PLO money.”

Birzeit receives almost its entire budget from outside Israel and the occupied territories, mainly through the Assn. of Arab Universities and the government of Kuwait. Tuition accounts for just 15% of the university’s revenue.

The Israeli government maintains that legitimate organizations have been used to transfer money for the PLO. Palestinians in the West Bank acknowledge that some institutions such as newspapers and labor unions have in the past been funded by the PLO as a way of providing jobs to unemployed sympathizers.

Many public institutions in the West Bank used to be funded by a so-called joint committee of the PLO and Jordan established at an Arab summit in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1979. But a decision was taken this month at the Algiers summit meeting of Arab leaders to give the entire responsibility to the PLO, which may cause greater resistance from the Israelis.

Banking officials noted that despite the Israeli limitations on transfers, the Israeli economy is essentially open, and the government may be hard pressed to close all avenues of currency movement from outside.

For example, Orthodox Jews in New York and Jerusalem are known to operate a very effective private banking network. Since many ultra-Orthodox Jews reject the concept of a Jewish state as sacrilege, they could provide assistance to Palestinians wishing to move money from abroad. There are also no limits on the amounts of money that can be brought in by foreigners who are not residents of the occupied territories.

The PLO provides a kind of social insurance through its offices in Amman, paying modest salaries to families of injured followers or those who are in jail. The law allows travelers to Jordan to bring in $1,000 individually per trip, so that the aid recipients are limited only in the number of trips they make across the bridge to Jordan.

Israeli officials have also expressed concern about a recent substantial increase in assistance being provided by Arab countries to the U.N. Works and Relief Administration (UNWRA), which since 1948 has looked after Palestinian refugees.

In the past, Arab countries have maintained a low profile as far as UNWRA was concerned because they argued that the West, not the Arab world, was responsible for the refugee problem.

But since the start of the uprising in December, aid through UNWRA has risen substantially. Kuwait gave $5 million for food; Libya $1.5 million for food and $1 million for schools; Qatar gave $2 million, and a committee of the Egyptian people gave $100,000.

The money is going into an emergency fund to help UNWRA pay for increasing food aid in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which has been made necessary by Israeli army curfews in refugee camps and villages.

“It shouldn’t be interpreted that we are feeding the vast population, even in the camps,” said Bill Lee, an information officer at UNWRA headquarters in Vienna. “It’s a stopgap kind of thing. People are not sitting back and depending on UNWRA for their sustenance.”

Among this assistance was a shipment of food, valued at $4 million, sent from Iraq by ship by way of the Jordanian port of Aqaba to Limassol, Cyprus, then to Ashdod in Israel.

Suspicious Israeli officials hand sifted 400 tons of wheat flour, but they eventually turned it over to UNWRA. They refused to pass along canned food, however, calling it unfit for human consumption.