P.A. CLOSES HAMAS CHARITIES

Tackling Hamas, PA to shut down Islamic charitable organizations (JPost)
In a move aimed at undermining Hamas, the Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah decided Thursday to dismantle all Islamic charitable organizations in the West Bank.

Hamas condemned the decision as a "declaration of war" on the needy and warned that thousands of families would be affected.

In a separate development Thursday, the PA security forces arrested Sheikh Hussam Harb, a senior Hamas leader in the West Bank who was recently released from Israeli prison. Harb was arrested when he went to visit Hamas prisoners who are being held in a PA jail in Nablus.

The charities that are being targeted are known as zakah committees. In Islam, zakah (purify) is a portion of one's wealth that must be given to the poor or to other specified purposes. The payment of zakah is a way of purifying one's wealth and saving oneself from greed and selfishness. PA officials said Hamas has been using the zakah committees as a means of transferring funds to its supporters in the West Bank.