TERRORIST FINANCING: DUTCH RESPONSE TO SECRETARY'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 003021 SIPDIS STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS/GLASS, S/CT/NAVRATIL, EUR/ERA/PARKER NEA, INR/EC TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL BANKING OFFICE, EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR TERRORIST FINANCING AND FINANCIAL CRIMES, OFAC (NEWCOMB) NSC FOR GPETERS BRUSSELS ALSO FOR LEGATT E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/23/2013 TAGS: ETTC PTER KPAL XF NL EUN SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCING: DUTCH RESPONSE TO SECRETARY'S LETTER ON FREEZING HAMAS FUNDS REF: A. STATE 318789 ¶B. THE HAGUE 2959 Classified By: Classification Derived from Ref A (U) Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer signed the following letter to Secretary Powell at the end of November. MFA pouched the letter to the Dutch Embassy in Washington for formal delivery. Department should receive a hard copy in the next couple of weeks. BEGIN TEXT OF LETTER TO SECRETARY POWELL (C) Thank you for your letter of November 18, 2003 regarding the important issue of tackling Hamas funding by charities. (C) Let me assure you that the Netherlands is deeply aware of the importance of severing all links between terrorist organizations and their financial supporters. We are firmly committed to effective action, in particular, against front organizations and fundraisers. We, in fact, took the lead within the EU by successfully advocating that the Al Aqsa Foundation, which was providing financial support to Hamas, be placed on the EU freeze list. (C) Within the EU, we consistently seek to act against organizations or individuals who support Hamas or any other organization on the EU freeze list. The main issue here is to obtain evidence that will hold up in court. For this reason, it is of paramount importance that the U.S. and EU coordinate their activities as closely as possible, through appropriate channels. We will need to keep improving our flows of information. The Dutch presidency of the EU in 2004 will give us an extra impetus to achieve results in this area. END TEXT OF LETTER SOBEL