The Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding 9 CCDP Working Paper Role and Governance of Islamic Charitable Institutions: Gaza Zakat Organizations (1973–2011) in the Local Context Emanuel Schaeublin LEBANON GAZA SYRIA Erez MEDITERRANEAN NORTH SEA Crossing WEST Beit Lahya BANK Jabaliya Camp GAZA Shati Camp STRIP Beit Hanoun ISRAEL JORDAN Jabaliya EGYPT GAZA CITY Nahal Oz Crossing Karni Crossing Nuseirat Camp Deir al-Balah Camp Bureij Camp Maghazi Camp MEDITERRANEAN DEIR AL-BALAH SEA Kissufim Khan Younis Camp KHAN YOUNIS Rafah Camp ISRAEL RAFAH Rafah Crossing Sufa Crossing Kerem Shalom Crossing EGYPT 05 km Primary Crossing Point Secondary Crossing Point This map is for illustrative purposes only (to indicate the borders of the various governorates) and does not imply an opinion on the political frontier. The Gaza Strip is 41 kilometres long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide. It is home to 1.6 m people, mostly descendants from refugees. In 2005, 21 Israeli settlements were unilaterally withdrawn. LEBANON GAZA SYRIA Erez MEDITERRANEAN NORTH SEA Crossing WEST Beit Lahya BANK Jabaliya Camp GAZA Shati Camp STRIP Beit Hanoun ISRAEL JORDAN Jabaliya EGYPT Role and Governance of Islamic GAZA CITY Nahal Oz Crossing Charitable Institutions: Karni Crossing Nuseirat Camp Gaza Zakat Organizations Deir al-Balah Camp Bureij Camp Maghazi Camp (1973–2011) in the MEDITERRANEAN DEIR AL-BALAH SEA Local Context Kissufim Emanuel Schaeublin Khan Younis Camp KHAN YOUNIS Rafah Camp ISRAEL RAFAH Rafah Crossing Sufa Crossing Kerem Shalom Crossing EGYPT 05 km Primary Crossing Point Secondary Crossing Point 2 Contents Preface .................................................................................................. 3 Author’s acknowledgments ........................................................................... 5 Acronyms and Arabic terms ......................................................................... 6 Explanation of acronyms and terms ............................................................ 6 Explanation of Arabic terms ...................................................................... 6 Note on spelling of Arabic words and translation .............................................. 7 Introduction .......................................................................................... 8 Research method ................................................................................ 13 Historical differences between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip ..................... 15 Phase 1: Ottoman rule (until 1918) ............................................................ 15 Phase 2: British Mandate of Palestine (1918–1948) .......................................... 15 Phase 3: The Egyptian Administration’s military rule of Gaza (1948–1967) .............. 16 Phase 4: Israeli military rule in Gaza and continuing Jordanian influence in the oPt (1968–1994)........................................................................... 16 Phase 5: The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza (1994–2006) ............ 17 Phase 6: Hamas governs the PA (March 2006 – June 2007)................................. 19 Phase 7: Hamas administration in Gaza (June 2007 – until present) ...................... 19 Different ‘legal cultures’ ........................................................................ 20 Power structures around NGOs and Islamic charitable organizations: tanzeem, security services, and clans ..................................................................... 23 Zakat committees and Islamic charitable societies in Gaza before 2007 .............. 26 Classification of zakat committees and Islamic charitable societies ....................... 28 Case Study 1: Khan Younis Zakat Committee – al-Masjed al-Kabir (1989) ................ 29 Case Study 2: Gaza Zakat Committee (1990) ................................................. 32 Case Study 3: Al-Rahma Zakat Committee, Khan Younis (1993) ........................... 34 Case Study 4: Zakat committees established by the PA Ministry of Awqaf ............... 36 Case Study 5: Mujamma Islami (1973) ........................................................ 40 Case Study 6: Al-Salah Islamic Charitable Society (1978) ................................... 43 Case Study 7: The Islamic Society (Jama‘iya Islamiya – 1976) ............................. 46 Case Study 8: Scientific Council for Salafyia Call in Palestine (1994) ..................... 47 Conclusions: Retrospective analysis of the zakat sector in the Gaza Strip before 2007 ....................................................................................... 48 After the split of 2007 ............................................................................ 62 Consequences of the politicization of aid ..................................................... 64 Zakat committees under the Ministry of Awqaf .............................................. 67 Islamic charitable societies ..................................................................... 71 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 73 Appendix I: Update on the West Bank zakat committees ....................................... 79 Bibliography .......................................................................................... 84 About the author .................................................................................... 88 CCDP Working Paper 3 Preface omplementing an earlier study on the West Bank, this CCDP Working Paper analyses institutionalized zakat practices in the Gaza Strip. In both territories, zakat committees and Islamic charitable societies emerged from within their Ccommunities and worked with considerable sensitivity to meet the needs of local populations. Initially informal structures relying on local donations, they obtained official registrations from the 1970s onwards and began to access funding from Muslims in the Arab Gulf, Europe and North America. Since the 1990s, they started to successfully tap into the international aid system. Locally known personalities, such as pious businessmen, doctors, imams and religious notables, volunteered to be on the boards of such Islamic social welfare institutions and contributed with their professional know-how to efficient and transparent governance. The community-based nature of many local zakat institutions earned them a great deal of popular trust and legitimacy. In the words of those who work within these institutions, the practice of zakat is part of religious worship of the people within a community that can be hindered and delayed, but not prevented by political interference and oppression.1 Prior to the political split of the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) in 2007, the zakat sector in the West Bank was composed of 92 zakat committees under the PA Ministry of Awqaf, as well as a number of important Islamic charitable societies, forming a decentralized structure of self-reliance throughout the towns and villages. They offered vital services, such as emergency relief, sponsorship programs for orphans and deprived families, educational projects, and clinics and medical labs that provide free or low-cost medical treatment to people in need. In the Gaza Strip, the role of the zakat committees under the PA Ministry of Awqaf was superseded by several major Islamic charitable societies under the PA Ministry of Interior, which had sub-branches throughout the coastal territory running zakat-based projects. Consisting of several centralized clusters, such as the PA Ministry of Awqaf and its zakat committees, as well as various large Islamic charitable societies and their branches, the pre-2007 zakat sector in the Gaza Strip was decentralized, but to a lower degree than in the West Bank. After the political turmoil of 2007, the zakat sector in both territories witnessed an increase of centralized control, albeit in a different political context. The various reasons and aspects of this process are documented in this paper, as well as in the CCDP Working Paper 5 on the West Bank zakat committees published in 2009. As a result of allegations that zakat committees and Islamic charitable societies in the oPt are politically affiliated to Hamas, international donors, as well as banks that facilitated transfers to zakat-based aid projects in the territories, have come under legal pressure, as they are accused of providing support to a ‘designated terrorist organization.’ 1 According to estimates, zakat donations from Muslim congregations within the oPt decreased due to aggravating socio-economic conditions in recent years (see e.g. Lundblad, 2011, p. 32). In spite of various legal and economic difficulties, local businesses as well as individuals continue to practice zakat in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. CCDP Working Paper 4 As a consequence, a substantial quantity of international funding was prevented from reaching the widespread structure of Islamic welfare institutions in the oPt. This gap has been filled in different ways. Since 2008, the European Commission’s PEGASE Mechanism has provided aid via the Palestinian Authority (Ramallah) Ministry of Social Affairs to poor families in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – in coordination with the Ministry of Social Affairs in the Gaza Strip. In addition, zakat is increasingly being collected and distributed via informal channels. Although in the West Bank Islamic welfare institutions have had their managing boards replaced by personalities known for their loyalty