Posted on 04/05/2006 12:48:44 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The coffers of the new Hamas government are empty, the Palestinian prime minister told his Cabinet Wednesday in the first public acknowledgment by the Islamic militants that they will have difficulty running the West Bank and Gaza without massive foreign aid.
Ismail Haniyeh suggested the Palestinian Authority will find it hard to meet its monthly payroll of 140,000 employees — salaries that sustain about one-third of the Palestinians. He appealed to the Arab world for more aid, saying pledges of $55 million a month are insufficient.
The prime minister spoke at the first meeting of his Cabinet, a week after Hamas took power. The new ministers need to find ways to make up for tens of millions of dollars in foreign aid the international community is expected to withhold because of Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel and renounce violence.
Israel also has frozen the transfer of tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians since shortly after Hamas' January election victory.
Until recently, Hamas leaders claimed they would be able to cover the payroll with help from Arab and Muslim countries. However, Haniyeh said Wednesday that the Arab pledges are insufficient and that his ministers would soon embark on a tour of the Arab world to drum up more support.
"The Palestinian Finance Ministry has received an entirely empty treasury, in addition to the debt of the government in general," Haniyeh said. "We are going to do our utmost as a government to pay the salaries of the Palestinian Authority employees despite the cash crisis that we are facing."
Earlier Wednesday, Haniyeh said the Cabinet members would not be paid until the financial crisis is solved.
"We are not going to receive our salaries until everyone from the Palestinian Authority is paid," he told families of prisoners held by Israel.
But he said the families would receive their monthly support payment within two days.
Hamas' first Cabinet meeting was held via videoconference, with simultaneous sessions taking place in Gaza and the West Bank because Israel does not permit Hamas ministers to travel between the two territories. The Palestinian legislature also meets this way.
Hamas has softened its statements since taking power last week but stopped short of meeting the international community's demands.
Sending such a mixed message, Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday that the new Hamas government believes its struggle against Israel's military occupation is just, but that it wants to live side-by-side and in peace with its neighbors.
Zahar's letter also referred to Israel's "illegal colonial policies," which he said "will ultimately diminish any hopes for the achievement of settlement and peace based on a two-state solution." Diplomats said the reference to a two-state solution by Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruction, could be a sign it is moderating.
However, Zahar denied that he in any way recognized Israel's right to exist or a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An official in Zahar's office said there was "not even a hint" of such a statement in the letter.
The English translation of Zahar's letter to Annan, including the reference to a possible two-state solution, was sent to The Associated Press by the Palestinian Observer Mission to the United Nations.
Hamas' most immediate problem is to find enough money to pay 140,000 government employees, including teachers, health care workers and members of the security forces.
In the past, the money came in part from foreign aid and tax transfers Israel collected on behalf of the Palestinians.
Israel halted the transfers, and the United States and Canada have announced they are severing ties with the new government. The European Union is to decide on its aid program next week.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told the European Parliament Wednesday that until Hamas renounces violence and recognizes Israel, "talking about business as usual simply isn't possible."
In Israel, President Moshe Katsav is to ask acting Ehud Olmert to form the next government, tapping him to be the next prime minister and putting him in a position to implement his plan to withdraw from parts of the West Bank and draw Israel's final borders by 2010.
Katsav and Olmert, the acting prime minister, will meet Thursday, said the president's spokeswoman, Hagit Cohen. Olmert's centrist Kadima Party won an election last week, but does not have enough power in parliament to rule alone.
Olmert said Tuesday he considers the center-left Labor Party a senior partner in any future ruling coalition, giving Olmert the momentum he needs to carry out his withdrawal plan.
However, Olmert is also reaching out to the right-wing Israel Beitenu party, which advocates drawing Israel's borders by excluding Israeli Arab communities and bringing in West Bank settlers. Olmert has said he would only sign up parties that support his West Bank plan.
New Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of the Islamic group Hamas, conducts his first cabinet meeting in Gaza City, Wednesday, April 5, 2006. The Palestinian Authority's coffers are empty and the new government is struggling to find money to pay tens of thousands of its employees, Haniyeh told his Hamas-led Cabinet at its first meeting Wednesday. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar attends a session of the Palestinian parliament in Gaza, March 28, 2006. Zahar on Wednesday denied referring to a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, wording that might have hinted Hamas was recognizing Israel's right to exist. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
They will have difficulty running the West Bank and Gaza without massive foreign aid… Ismail Haniyeh suggested the Palestinian Authority will find it hard to meet its monthly payroll of 140,000 employees — salaries that sustain about one-third of the Palestinians.
One third of all Palestinians are paid out of my paycheck?
I better get another job.
Do they have any oil rich fellow Muslim countries sympathetic to their cause? Why is it all US...Canada...UN...EU?
they've also run out of rocks and will be going to the snapping wet towel as weapon of choice!
Thanks, may as well link it up, make a ring. titles totally different, FR search couldn't catch it. oh well. ;-)
Ismail Haniyeh says 'PA treasury is completely empty'
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1609755/posts
The Jerusalem Post ^ | Apr. 5, 2006
Posted on 04/05/2006 12:08:23 PM PDT by ncountylee
Ask Suha Arafat to sell her Paris condo to pay the bills. Or if that fails, what about a little country called SAUDI ARABIA, which pretends to care about the P.A. I heard they have a few bucks to throw around. Why is it the Americans and Euroweenies have to come to the rescue?
Let the Arab countries help their own.......
What, no takers? Thought so.
I'm curious, whatever happened to the estimated 1 to 3 billion "personal" fortune (stolen) that Arafat and his buddies absconded with over the years?
You really didn't think that Fatah would leave power and leave money on the table, did you???
As for their financial trouble, I seem to recall that yassir squirelled away nearly 2 billion. Perhaps Hamas ought to pay Suha a visit and find out where it is.
I just hope they don't find the hole in Uncle Sam's pocket!
""Sending such a mixed message, Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday that the new Hamas government believes its struggle against Israel's military occupation is just, but that it wants to live side-by-side and in peace with its neighbors.""
I feel for Zahar's consternation. He is being misinterpreted. The military occupation is of all the lands of Western Palestine. Peace is per Islamist definition of the word, Dar Es Islam, with the People of the Book taking dhimmi status.
"Why is it the Americans and Euroweenies have to come to the rescue?"
I don't think the Western Euros will come through for Hamas. Part of the reason why they did for Arafat was a kind of Marxist sentimentality hangin over from the Cold War. The frisson of revolution is not fed by giving money to Hamas. The French may continue in their hopes of maintaining influence in the region.
This just begs for a caption contest!
Very attractive comb-over on that Foreign Minister.
I've got an idea... why don't they have a bloody civil war and reduce the population to a level sustainable with their resources? Yeesh. I hope all the terror leaders get the Caucescu treatment - they convinced their people that terror against Israel was more important than survival, let them answer to the folks who soon will have no food to eat. Let them feed their hungry people with their own bodies, as is appropriate to their level of civilization and respect for human life.
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