US embassy cable - 03THEHAGUE1954

S E C R E T THE HAGUE 001954 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/ESC/ESP/GLASS, S/CT/FOX, EUR/ERA/PARKER, 
IO/PHO/PEREZ 
TREASURY FOR AUFHAUSER, ZARATE, MURDEN 
JUSTICE FOR OIA/FRIEDMAN 
BRUSSELS ALSO FOR LEGATT 
NSC FOR PETERS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/05/2013 
TAGS: ETTC, PTER, NL, EUN 
SUBJECT: TERRORIST FINANCE: DUTCH COMMENTS ON AL AQSA 
FOUNDATION DESIGNATION 
 
REF: STATE 223277 
 
Classified By: Acting Economic Counselor Todd Kushner Reason 1.5 (b) an 
d (d) 
 
 (S) Dutch officials told us that the Netherlands proposed in 
the EU clearinghouse that the entirety of the Al Aqsa 
Foundation be designated.  Other member states thwarted this 
proposal by arguing that the Dutch had presented no evidence 
indicating that Al Aqsa Foundation is an organic entity and 
claimed that there was insufficient evidence linking Al Aqsa 
Foundation branches outside the Netherlands to terrorist 
activity.  The Dutch claim that the French representative 
asserted that there is no evidence linking the French branch 
with Hamas.  Faced with such opposition, the Dutch scaled 
back their request to designation of the Al Aqsa Foundation 
Netherlands branch only.  The Dutch branch was subsequently 
designated by the EU.  Absent further details regarding 
terrorist-related activities by Al Aqsa Foundation in other 
EU countries or evidence showing Al Aqsa Foundation operates 
as a unified organization, the Dutch see little prospect that 
the clearinghouse will in the near future designate 
additional Al Aqsa Foundation branches. 
RUSSEL