TERRORIST FINANCE: DUTCH COMMENTS ON AL AQSA

S E C R E T THE HAGUE 001954 SIPDIS STATE FOR EB/ESC/ESP/GLASS, S/CT/FOX, EUR/ERA/PARKER, IO/PHO/PEREZ TREASURY FOR AUFHAUSER, ZARATE, MURDEN JUSTICE FOR OIA/FRIEDMAN BRUSSELS ALSO FOR LEGATT NSC FOR PETERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/05/2013 TAGS: ETTC PTER NL EUN SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCE: DUTCH COMMENTS ON AL AQSA FOUNDATION DESIGNATION REF: STATE 223277 Classified By: Acting Economic Counselor Todd Kushner Reason 1.5 (b) an d (d) (S) Dutch officials told us that the Netherlands proposed in the EU clearinghouse that the entirety of the Al Aqsa Foundation be designated. Other member states thwarted this proposal by arguing that the Dutch had presented no evidence indicating that Al Aqsa Foundation is an organic entity and claimed that there was insufficient evidence linking Al Aqsa Foundation branches outside the Netherlands to terrorist activity. The Dutch claim that the French representative asserted that there is no evidence linking the French branch with Hamas. Faced with such opposition, the Dutch scaled back their request to designation of the Al Aqsa Foundation Netherlands branch only. The Dutch branch was subsequently designated by the EU. Absent further details regarding terrorist-related activities by Al Aqsa Foundation in other EU countries or evidence showing Al Aqsa Foundation operates as a unified organization, the Dutch see little prospect that the clearinghouse will in the near future designate additional Al Aqsa Foundation branches. RUSSEL