Candidate's staffers insist Gaza brothers refunded, but men say, 'We

did not receive any money back'



    JERUSALEM, Aug. 6 /EMWNews/ -- In response to a WND

story, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign contends it returned $33,500 in illegal

contributions from Palestinians in Hamas-controlled Gaza, but the donors

told Aaron Klein of WND today they have not received any money.



    The Wall Street Journal reported it spoke to Obama officials who said

the donations from three Palestinian brothers were received between Sept.

20 and Dec. 6 last year, and virtually all of the money was returned by

Dec. 6. The campaign said, however, the refunds were not reported to the

Federal Election Commission due to a technical error.



    The Obama camp insisted the remaining $2,500 was refunded Monday and

all of the refunds will be reflected soon in an amended report. The

campaign said new controls are in place to prevent any similar attempts in

the future.



    But WND asked two of the brothers - Monir and Hasam Edwan - to respond

to the campaign's claims.



    "No, we did not receive any money back from the Obama campaign at any

time," said Monir Edwan.



    Last week, the blog Atlas Shrugs outlined the series of donations made

last year by Monir Edwan and Hosam Edwan, totaling $29,521.54. A third

brother, Yousef, reportedly gave the campaign about $4,000.



    The Edwans continue to maintain - as they told WND earlier this week -

that the financial transactions made on Obama's campaign website were not

actual donations but purchases of "Obama for President" T-shirts. The

transactions, however, were listed as donations in U.S. government election

filings.



    The donations violate election laws, including prohibitions on

receiving contributions from foreigners and against accepting more than

$2,300 from one individual during a single election.



    A WND investigation tracked down the Edwans in the Tal Esaltan

neighborhood of Rafah, a large refugee camp in the Hamas-controlled Gaza

Strip. The Edwans are a large clan that include top Hamas supporters.



    The brothers denied their financial transactions were actual donations

to Obama's campaign, claiming they purchased about $30,000 in Obama

T-shirts from the presidential candidate's online store - a contention that

did not hold up during a WND interview, when they changed their story

several times.



    "My brother Hosam and I knew that Obama will be a big hit even before

he became a candidate. We knew the guy would be a celebrity in Gaza so we

decided to invest the amount of $29,000 to buy Obama T-shirts from his

website and sell them in Gaza," Monir Edwan told WND, speaking by cell

phone from Gaza.



    Asked how he managed to get shipments of T-shirts into the Gaza Strip

during the time Israel imposed a tight closure, Edwan maintained the

packages were sent to him by the U.S. Postal Service.



    Monir Edwan said he wants Obama to be president.



    "Not just the people in Gaza but people from all over the world are

rooting for this great man," he told WND.



    http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71597



    Media contact: Maria Sliwa



    M. Sliwa Public Relations and Freedom Now Communications, Inc.,

[email protected], 973-272-2861, 212-202-4453



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    Aaron Klein



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