NOVANEWS
By: Sanaa Kamel
Palestinian affairs remain in a conundrum despite the reconciliation between the West Bank and Gaza. All government employees are now under the umbrella of one government, which provides them with everything except their salaries. This led to a “raid,” which ended up shutting down the banks.
Gaza- Late Thursday night witnessed a quarrel between employees of the resigned government in Gaza on one hand, and the employees of the unity government (formerly Ramallah) on the other. It began when “Hamas employees” protested over how their counterparts are able to withdraw their salaries from ATMs, while they have been living on “half salaries” for the past nine months. The skirmishes spread to the banks and ATMs in several locations in the Gaza Strip, until the Hamas police intervened to break up some fights, and announced the closure of banks for their protection.
Bank sources inside Gaza told Al-Akhbar that their staff went on a “semi-open” leave, until the dispute is solved and their safety insured, without indicating if they will reopen after the Friday-Saturday weekend. Remarkably, the government employees’ protest and the intervention by the police occurred almost at the same time. This could indicate a tacit agreement to manufacture a problem to stop the distribution of last May’s salaries disbursed by the unity government in an attempt to divert attention to public sector employees in Gaza. The information was neither denied nor confirmed by the police, who merely told Al-Akhbarthat they are obliged to secure the banks.
However, an official in a Hamas-linked security service announced that the protests will continue until their salaries are paid, just like the others. Preferring to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the situation, he told Al-Akhbar, “there is a determination to close the banks until the crisis is solved.” The official would not clarify if there were orders from the security forces command on this matter or if it was a spontaneous action by the police forces, who are not getting their salaries regularly either.
Police forces were still guarding the banks up to the writing of this report. According to Iyad al-Bazm, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior and National Security, the measure aims to prevent the issue from escalating and “protect the establishments.” But he clarified that the issue is up to the bank and financial authorities to decide.
On the other hand, legal expert Mostafa Ibrahim described the situation as a “raid on the banks.” Speaking to Al-Akhbar, he maintained that this was “a planned move and was not the action of an individual or groups of oppressed Hamas employees who have the right to receive the salaries.” He added that “Hamas was agitated and wanted to deliver a clear message saying that the salary issue must be solved. However, it needs to wait since its employees would be an integral part of the authority according to the unity agreement.”Ibrahim does not have any doubts that Hamas signed the agreement, knowing that its employees’ salaries would be ensured and that they would be “housed in the property of employees of the national authority.”
“Hamas did not vanish into thin air and left its staff to call for help. I think they received assurances from President Mahmoud Abbas on the issue. However, it is clear that the PNA was not ready or that it created a crisis to negotiate with Hamas, leaving the employees without salaries for this month.”
Nonetheless, employees living under difficult conditions in Gaza refuse to enter a new spiral of bickering. For them, reconciliation does not mean going back to the situation in 2006 and 2007, prior to the split, when they spent months without salaries. “It is not our fault,” explained Mohammed Abu Sabha, an employee who is paid from Ramallah. “Hamas employees should feel our pain. They suffer as we do and the problem with their salaries is not new. It has been going on for years. They should wait a month or two for their problem to be solved.” Sitting by the Bank Palestine ATM, he told Al-Akhbar “I hope the problem is solved in the next few hours, so we could go back to our families and children.”
“Why should we wait if we are all part of the same government?” Ibrahim al-Saqqa, a Gaza employee, replied angrily. “This consecrates the division and violates what they agreed upon.” He began shouting, “none of you will get one shekel if we do not get our legitimate salaries.” After he calmed down, he told Al-Akhbar, “this is a farce and we will not allow it. We served our people for seven years, while other sat at home and received their salaries regularly.”
Hamas leaders avoided replying to calls on the issue, indicating the unity government is responsible for the situation in Gaza, since it was responsible for the employees. Islamic Jihad took a moderate position through one of its officials, Khaled al-Batsh, who agreed the unity government should pay salaries without discrimination. However, he condemned how the situation was addressed outside the banks and expressed fears that this could lead to chaos.Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, defended the actions outside the banks. “The employees in Gaza are angry because they face discrimination and are denied their salaries,” he wrote on Facebook. “The unity government must bear its responsibility.” This was answered by the unity government spokesman, Ihab Bsiso, who said his government “will deal with all the people without discrimination. But the paid salaries had been scheduled in the state budget and were approved prior to the reconciliation.”
However, it seems Hamas succeeded in its battle for its employees’ salaries. It issued a press statement on Thursday night announcing that the emir of Qatar, Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, had pledged to support the unity government in paying its salaries, especially to those working for the former government in Gaza. Former Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh “spoke to Tamim on the phone and asked Qatar to support the unity government to fulfil its financial obligations.”
“The emir of Qatar responded to Haniyeh’s call, especially regarding the salaries of Gaza employees,” it continued. The statement also indicated that Haniyeh spoke to unity government Prime Minister Rami Alhamdulillah, “explaining what happened with Tamim” and asking Alhamdulillah to visit Doha as soon as possible “to set up a mechanism for supporting the government’s budget so it could fulfil its obligations.”
