The international community is debating how to continue to provide aid to Palestinian society in the wake of Hamas’ election victory. European leaders recently announced that they will avoid giving money to those classified as terrorists, and will instead channel more funds via NGOs. However, evidence shows that NGO partners must be picked carefully and continually monitored. USAID presents a good model of how to direct funds towards humanitarian needs and development, while generally avoiding NGOs involved in extremist political campaigning or incitement. Despite this, even USAID was found to be supporting the biased anti-Israeli political activities of ANERA, and funding its publications that erase the context of terrorism and promote the Palestinian narrative.

"NGOs in the region have become parties to the conflict, and not neutral engines of development and peacemakers If international donors want to provide humanitarian assistance they will have to develop their own organizations and monitoring systems, rather than using the existing network of NGOs.’" (from Gerald M. Steinberg, "Funding NGOs is no solution," The Jerusalem Post, Feb. 12, 2006)

 

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