A gunman shoots in the air during the funeral of three
Islamic Jihad men at the Beach camp in Gaza City Tuesday.
Posted on 05/31/2006 10:05:50 AM PDT by SmithL
The Hamas-led Palestinian government does not have enough money to pay tens of thousands of employees, the finance minister said Wednesday, pulling back from a pledge to begin paying long-overdue salaries to all workers in the coming days.
The announcement raised the possibility of new unrest in the impoverished Palestinian areas.
In a surprise announcement, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday the government planned to begin paying the workers.
On Wednesday, however, Finance Minister Omar Abdel Razek said the government has raised enough money in tax revenues to pay just 40,000 workers.
He said only the lowest wage earners, those who earn up to 1,500 shekels ($333, or €260) a month, would receive a one month salary. People earning more than that will have to wait, he said.
The salary payment promises to bring a small measure of relief to the impoverished Palestinian territories. But the exclusion of nearly three-quarters of the work force threatened to breed more discontent.
"When we have enough money for the rest, we will pay. We don't know when," Abdel Razek said.
Bassam Zakarna, head of the Palestinian Authority employees' union, criticized the government for paying only some of the salaries.
"The government is not solving the problem, or even part of the problem. On the contrary, it is creating a new problem," he said.
Most of the workers eligible to be paid are members of the security forces, which are dominated by President Mahmoud Abbas' rival Fatah movement. The decision to pay the forces may be a way for Hamas to reduce tension or buy the loyalty of the armed men.
Reflecting the desperate situation, a senior Hamas official tried to smuggle about $800,000 (€620,000) into Gaza recently, but the money was confiscated at the Egyptian border.
Abdel Razek said the money had been turned over to his ministry. He said that cash, together with donations and tax collections, will cover the salary payments.
The really humorous part of this(well, there's many)is that the money that was confiscated from the Hamas official was confiscated by ABBAS'S FATAH people, not the Israelis. I love that.
Hopefully civil war breaks out and they decimate each other.
The Pali's can't run a sanitary sewer system. That they can't make payroll doesn't surprise me.
Hamas says it can't pay salaries
Who cares? Oh that's right, Condoleeza Rice and George Bush care.
Gee, that's too bad that they don't have any money. Maybe they should check the bank accounts of their hero Yasser Arafat and his former wife. It has been reported that they could find hundreds of millions there.
I, for one, am shocked that the international community isn't kicking in more to cover the salaries of these gunmen.
I wonder what the starting salary for a murderer is these days??
Hmmm.... it's gotta be a bit scary being the spokesman that has to stand up in front of these armed men and tell them they will not be paid.
Should be an 'explosive' situation on the picket lines.
Good, more suffering for the Palis who were dumb enough to vote for Hamas. Hopefully they're seeing more and more that their decisions have consequences, like voting based on machismo and a stupid fanaticism to Islam
"Hopefully civil war breaks out and they decimate each other."
Decimate each other and take quite a few Syrians and Saudis, too. Please, oh please!
Not sure where you're coming up with that since Rice and Bush are adament we won't be giving a dime of aid to the Hamas government. Don't fall into knee jerk Bush hating like the left. It's no less stupid when we do it on our side than when they do it on theirs.
NO MORE MONEY FOR MURDERERS AND TERRORISTS.
Note that the article says this 40,000 worker figure constitutes just 1/4 of the employees owed wages. Thus, Hamas has 160,000 workers on the govt. payroll and most of these are security? Sounds like it's their army that's not getting paid - and that's a good thing.
...just thinking how these cash strapped Palis could make some quick cash...hmmmm
I got it! Maybe thay can auction off some land to the Israelis!!
They must have some extra land laying around somewhere...
Yes, to give him credit, it's Bush who has leaned hard on the banks and told them not to transfer any money to the Palis. Otherwise there would be plenty of it flowing in from the usual suspects.
But you're right it's the only thing of value they have;-)
Starting to think that the only good pali is a dead pali.
We used to say that about Indians.
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