QATAR TO DONATE $10 MILLION TO GAZA THROUGH HAMAS

C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 000526

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2019
TAGS: PREL KPAL KWBG QA
SUBJECT: QATAR TO DONATE $10 MILLION TO GAZA THROUGH HAMAS

REF: 2008 DOHA 861

Classified By: CDA Mirembe L. Nantongo for Reason 1.4 (b) and (d)

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(SBU) KEY POINTS
--------------

-- Local media reported that Qatar's Amir, Shaykh Hamad Bin
Khalifa Al Thani, called Hamas' Ismail Haniyah August 21 to
inform him that Qatar would mark the beginning of Ramadan by
donating 10 million USD to Gaza's fishermen and workers.

-- According to press reports, the assistance will be
funneled through Hamas.

-- Embassy contacts have no additional details to offer.

-- We will report septel any additional information acquired
on the nature and funding mechanisms for this aid.

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(C) COMMENTS
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-- It is unclear what prompted Qatar to funnel assistance
through Hamas.

-- The choice to provide assistance through Hamas would mark
a change in stated GOQ policy, as previously Qatar's
assistance to Gaza was distributed through UN organizations
and NGOs -- mechanisms which Minister of State for
International Cooperation Khalid Al-Attiyah told Ambassador
last December Qatar found satisfactory (reftel).

End Key Points and Comments.


1. (U) Local media reported August 23 that Amir Shaykh Hamad
Bin Khalifa Al Thani called Hamas official Ismail Haniyah the
evening of August 21 to inform him that Qatar would donate 10
million USD at the start of Muslim holy month of Ramadan to
aid Gazan fishermen and workers. According to the local
Arabic-language newspaper Al Sharq and China's Xinhua News
Agency, the assistance would be funneled through Hamas.


2. (U) The aid is aimed at helping the tens of thousands of
workers and fisherman affected by restrictions imposed by
the Israeli Navy on navigation near the coast of Gaza,
reported Al Sharq.


3. (U) The Palestinian Mission in Qatar issued a statement
August 22 lauding Qatar's gesture, calling it a "life buoy
from slow death." In a separate press release to a local
news agency, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General
Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al-Attiyah embraced the Amir's
announcement, praising Qatar for its steadfast support of the
Palestinian people. (Note: Al-Attiyah, himself Qatari, is a
member of one of Qatar's most prominent families.)


4. (SBU) Our repeated attempts to garner more information
from Qatari and local Palestinian sources on the nature of
the aid and the distribution mechanisms through which it
would pass have been unsuccessful. Post will report septel
any additional information obtained.
Nantongo