Palestinian banks agree to cover some wages

By Mohammed Assadi

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – After threats from
militants, Palestinian banks agreed on Sunday to pay out of
their own funds 40,000 government workers who have gone without
wages for three months.

The banks said they would provide interest-free loans to
the Palestinian government’s lowest-paid employees, covering
one month’s salary for 40,000 people at a cost of some $13
million.

By dealing directly with the employees, the banks sidestep
the threat of international sanctions against financial
institutions that deal with Hamas, the Islamic militant
movement that now leads the Palestinian government.

“We are ready to lose millions of dollars but not to risk
our relationship with U.S. banks and risk international
sanctions,” one banking official said of the arrangement.

The announcement came hours after four militant factions,
in a rare joint statement, threatened the banks, saying it was
their national duty to help the Palestinian people and accusing
them of being a “tool” of Israel if they didn’t help.

After talks with the equivalent of the Palestinian central
bank, the banks said they would provide the loans to those
earning 1,500 shekels a month ($325) or less. The loans will be
extended from Monday.

The scheme may be expanded to higher-salary employees on
the Palestinian government’s 165,000-member payroll later.

A consortium of 22 banks was involved in the discussions.

While a seemingly bold step, the decision was likely only
to alleviate partially the funding crunch that has afflicted
the West Bank and Gaza, where about 3.8 million Palestinians
live, since Hamas came to power in March.

The Israeli government and U.S. and European Union
officials had no immediate response to the banks’ decision.

Israel, the United States and the EU regard Hamas as a
terrorist organization. The categorisation has discouraged
local, regional and international banks from doing any business
with Hamas or the Palestinian government.

OLMERT MEETING

Sunday’s decision came only after four militant factions,
representing both Hamas and the more secular Fatah movement,
applied pressure in a tersely worded statement.

The factions said if banks did not help they would be dealt
with like “those who besiege the Palestinian people and deprive
their children of a livelihood,” a reference to Israel.

The joint statement, the first threats by militants against
the banks, came despite a power struggle between Hamas and
Fatah’s leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas last month called on Hamas to support a document that
implicitly recognises Israel or else face a referendum on the
issue in early July, a vote Hamas could well lose.

Hamas has rejected international demands to renounce
violence, recognize Israel and abide by interim peace deals.

Abbas has said a deadline for Hamas to accept the document
will expire on Tuesday.

Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior Fatah official, said Abbas had
already been talking with Arab and other countries to secure
financial and political backing for the referendum.

He had also asked a commission to prepare the legal
framework for the vote, Ahmad said.

Hamas has shown little inclination of accepting the
document. Haniyeh on Sunday rejected out of hand any
referendum, saying it would be illegal to hold such a vote.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted by Israeli
officials as telling his cabinet on Sunday the document was
“completely unacceptable and not the basis for anything.”

As part of his efforts to continue a dialogue with Israel
despite Hamas’s rise to power and his own weakness, Abbas is
expected to hold talks with Olmert in the coming weeks,
although no date has been set.

Olmert planned to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in
the Sinai resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh later on Sunday to brief
him on his plan to set Israel’s borders with or without
Palestinian agreement.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and
Corinne Heller in Jerusalem)