Israeli intelligence officials claim that Arab Bank, one of the largest banks in the Arab world, is Hamas and Islamic Jihad's preferred channel for transferring money to the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to a Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies report. The report mainly relies on documents seized during IDF raids on Arab Bank branches in the Palestinian Authority in February 2004.
The report states that Jordan-based Arab Bank has 190 branches in every Arab country, as well as in the US, UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. It is the terrorist organizations' preferred channel for transferring money for the support of families of killed, wounded, wanted, and imprisoned terrorists.
Terrorist organization also use Arab Bank to transfer money to finance their military operations and civilian infrastructures. The main reason for utilizing Arab Bank is its great many branches in the PA and overseas.
The report claims that Palestinian terrorist organizations, particularly Hamas and Islamic Jihad, exploit Arab Bank's widespread deployment to transfer millions of dollars to the PA. Payments to the families of Hamas activists are made directly from overseas. Arab Bank is used as a channel to finance charitable associations affiliated with the terrorist organizations.
Israeli defense officials believe that senior Arab Bank officers are aware of the nature of the transfer payments for the terrorist organizations, because they have been going on for many years.
The PA and its security agencies are also aware of Arab Bank's services for terrorist organizations, but for years have avoided taking any active measures to put an end to them.
Arab Bank is a private institution controlled by the Shuman family, which owns 40% of its shares. The bank has assets worth $5.2 billion and has 6,000 employees.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on August 1, 2004