HAMAS WINS ELECTIONS; UN TRANSFERS $$$ TO IT

Hamas Wins Gaza Strip Local Elections (Jerusalem Post)
Hamas has won an overwhelming victory in Gaza Strip local elections, winning 77 out of the 118 seats in 10 districts, Palestinian election officials said Friday. The ruling Fatah party won 26 seats, independents took 14, and the radical Popular Front won one seat, the officials said.

Despite Israeli Alerts, UN Transfers Thousands to Hamas Affiliates - Benny Avni
The UN Development Program transferred thousands of dollars to a Palestinian Arab charity affiliated with terrorism long after Israel warned of the terror connection, though the UN publicly claimed payments to the organization had stopped. The UNDP was headed by Mark Maloch Brown, who has recently been appointed Secretary-General Annan's chief of staff. Dore Gold, the former Israeli ambassador to the UN, exposed UNDP support for charity committees affiliated with Hamas in a recent op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal.

UN undersecretary-general for communication Shashi Tharoor claimed in a letter to the editor of the Journal that "no further payments were made by the UN" to the Hamas affiliates after a June 25, 2003, letter from Timothy Rothermel of the UNDP to the Israeli army. Yet according to a UNDP letter that was seen by the Sun, the agency transferred $6,000 to the Jenin Charity Committee on September 11, 2003. A subsequent letter from UNDP, dated October 3, 2003, states that the transfer was a mistake and "was intended for the Tul Karem Charity Committee." UNDP spokesman William Orme said Thursday that his agency is checking into the new facts, and that if the documents are accurate, an internal investigation will be launched immediately. "We were told no payments were made following June 2003," he said. (New York Sun)