U.S. Claims Success Cutting Off Hamas’ Fund-Raising

The U.S. government contends that its crackdown on fund-raising by Hamas in this country has succeeded in cutting to a trickle the money flowing to the terrorist group from the United States. But the kind of terrorism Hamas practices does not cost much and does not rely on U.S.-based support.

Hamas has raised money informally in this country through a loosely organized effort involving mosques in cities with significant Arab American populations. But a January 1995 executive order issued by President Clinton in the aftermath of earlier terrorist incidents apparently has curtailed fund transfers from the United States, many observers believe.

Since the order went into effect, the Treasury Department has frozen about $800,000 in U.S. assets held by three individuals, two of whom were members of Hamas, officials said Tuesday.

Vincent M. Cannistraro, who was director of counter-terrorism and analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency from 1988 to 1990 and who now is a Washington consultant, said he is convinced that Hamas’ funding in the United States has largely dried up. “It’s chump change” now, he said.

Cutting off the flow of those funds from the United States has not made a difference in Israel. The brand of terrorism that Hamas practices--strapping high explosives to a suicidal fanatic--is low-cost and almost impossible to deter. Nor does it require an extensive logistic network or substantial funds from outside sources.

Other experts still debate whether Hamas has found ways to shift some funds out of the United States. But U.S. analysts agree that such financial support has never made a big difference for Hamas. The group’s fund-raising network in U.S. cities with significant Arab populations has always been dwarfed by the support it has received from Iran and other major sponsors in the Middle East.

Despite the cutback in fund transfers, there are investigations of Hamas figures who are in the United States for activities other than fund-raising, a government source said.

Still, Hamas’ complex role in the Palestinian community--as both a provider of social services and a terror organization--makes tracking the uses or abuses of its fund-raising far more difficult.

U.S. officials said that it is nearly impossible to tell exactly how much of the money raised for Hamas--either in the United States or elsewhere--goes to support its legitimate humanitarian activities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, rather than its terrorist wing.