By IPS Correspondents
WASHINGTON, Dec 12 2007 (IPS)

Members of the U.S. Congress expressed concern Wednesday that an aid package aimed at increasing support for the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas does not contain enough effective oversight measures to ensure the money doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.

“The administration’s proposal lacks any kind of performance-based conditionality,” said New York Democratic Congressman Gary Ackerman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. “American money has to start leveraging change, not just buying more of the same,” he said in a hearing on the topic.

If approved by Congress, the 410 million dollar aid package would increase U.S. aid to Palestine by more than 800 percent over current levels. It would also continue the policy of assisting the Abbas-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank while isolating the Gaza Strip, which has been under the control of Hamas since June.

“The U.S. is making an unprecedented effort to increase opportunities for Palestinians,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said when announcing the package earlier this month.

The United States cut off all aid to Palestine in March 2006, following Hamas’ victory in parliamentary elections in January. Aid has since resumed to the Abbas-led government in the West Bank, but only a limited amount of humanitarian assistance goes to Gaza, which has suffered from shortages of fuel and clean drinking water due to an Israeli blockade.

The blockade, launched in response to rockets fired at Israeli cities from militants operating in Gaza, has come under increasing fire from human rights groups. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both say the situation in Gaza is dire, and call Israel’s decision to restrict supplies of fuel and electricity a form of collective punishment that violates the laws of war.

Members of Congress worry aid could end up in the hands of groups hostile to Israel, including Hamas and others considered “terrorist organisations” by the U.S. government. Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, the top Republican on the Foreign Affairs subcommittee, also cited cases of embezzlement that occurred under the government of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to question the wisdom of sending more aid.

“What have [the Palestinians] in fact done that can give us confidence?” Pence asked U.S. officials in attendance at the hearing.

Robert Danin, an official in the U.S. State Departments bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, told lawmakers that the political situation in Palestine is different than in years past. He cited President Abbas’ appointment of Salam Fayyad, a U.S.-educated economist, to the position of prime minister as an example of the pro-Western, technocratic makeup of the West Bank government.

The legality of Fayyad’s appointment has been challenged by Hamas and others who argue he was never properly confirmed by the Palestinian parliament.

“It is critical for the United States and the international community to support the Fayyad government and President Abbas as they seek peaceful reconciliation with Israel while staving off the violent alternative represented by Hamas,” Danin testified.

U.S. officials said aid to Palestine would be carefully audited by U.S. Foreign Service employees to make sure it did not end up in the hands of terrorists. The aid would primarily go toward job creation, public infrastructure projects, and improving government services. Some 150 million dollars would go directly to the Palestinian Authority, a break from past U.S. policy that officials say is necessary to meet a budget shortfall.

An additional 25 million dollars would be dedicated to training and equipping Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. Another 35 million dollars would go toward emergency assistance for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.

A top priority for lawmakers is that recipients of the aid be made aware that it’s coming from the United States and through the Palestinian Authority, to contrast the lack of aid and services in areas controlled by Hamas. Congressman Ackerman told U.S. officials they should insist that government ministers and Fatah officials in the West Bank attend all “ribbon-cutting” ceremonies for newly completed projects and hire press secretaries to alert the local media.

Mark Ward, an official with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), assured lawmakers that all U.S.-funded projects would feature both U.S. and Palestinian flags. He also said U.S. officials were taking the lead in a campaign aimed at boosting public opinion of the Palestinian Authority by highlighting U.S.-funded projects.

Ward cited a 48.5 million dollar USAID water purification project in the West Bank town of Eastern Hebron as an example of the type of infrastructure development U.S. aid is bringing to Palestine. When finished, the project will provide clean drinking water to around 600,000 Palestinians, he testified.

Ward also stressed that there continues to be no contact between the United States and Hamas, and that aid programmes in the Gaza Strip are limited. U.S. policy makers believe that by aiding the more moderate Palestinian Authority in the West Bank they can undermine support for the more militant Hamas, a strategy shared by Israel.

U.S. officials are hoping a large financial aid package to the Palestinian Authority will encourage European and Arab countries to be more generous at next week’s donor’s conference in Paris. Prime Minister Fayyad hopes to raise more than 5.6 billion dollars at the Dec. 17 conference, which will be attended by Rice and former British prime minister and current Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair.

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