Palestinian aid groups' accounts closed

[emad]

Faisal al Yafai
Monday January 3, 2005
The Guardian

Two British organisations set up to help the Palestinian people have had their bank accounts abruptly closed without explanation, the Guardian has learned. Neither is proscribed by the government, and both claim that their targeting is political.

The groups, Friends of Al-Aqsa (FoAA) and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, have been asked to find alternative banking arrangements, even though neither appears on watch lists held by the Home Office or the Bank of England. The head of FoAA has also had his personal and business accounts closed.

Ismail Patel, chair of the Leicester-based FoAA, said he returned from holiday this week to find a letter from the Royal Bank of Scotland saying a review had been conducted and the bank was no longer willing to provide him with facilities. He was given 30 days to transfer his three accounts.

"It came out of the blue. There's nothing I can think of that I've done differently," he said. "I was shocked by the letter."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1382392,00.html