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WORLD / Middle East

Palestinians receive some money but showdown looms
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-05 20:57

Palestinian Authority employees crowded into banks in the West Bank and Gaza on Monday to get a month's salary in a move by the Hamas-led government to ease an economic crisis and bolster its public support.


A policeman displays his money after withdrawing it from an automated teller machine of the Bank of Palestine in Gaza City, June 4, 2006. [Reuters]

But Hamas and moderate President Mahmoud Abbas were set for a political showdown over a manifesto penned by Palestinians in Israeli jails that implicitly recognizes the Jewish state.

After going unpaid since March, some 40,000 of the Palestinian Authority's lowest -- earning workers were eligible to receive a month's salary promised by the government.

Foreign donors and Israel have boycotted dealings with the Hamas-led administration, leaving 165,000 government employees without wages and facing hard times.

"I will have to pay some of my debts and the rest will go toward buying milk and basic food items. It's one good step but we need our full salaries," said Ala al-Maswabi, a paramilitary policeman, at the Cairo-Amman Bank in Gaza.

All but one of about 20 banks in the West Bank and Gaza said they would use their own funds for the $13 million payout. They fear international sanctions if they deal with Hamas, viewed by the United States as a terrorist organization.

Hamas has promised advances to the rest of the government's 165,000 employees, but has set no date for payments.

A new aid mechanism being crafted by the European Union on behalf of the Quartet of Middle East mediators -- the EU, the United States, the United Nations and Russia -- was expected to provide limited relief.

After meeting with Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the goal was to create a system that could funnel humanitarian aid to the Palestinians from many international donors.

Aides said the mechanism will include funds to pay "allowances" to some workers. But diplomats said the scope would be limited initially to those in the health sector.
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