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In Gaza, unpaid Palestinian Authority salaries dampen Eid joy
Some 60,000 PA employees in the beleaguered Strip reel from Ramallah’s decision to cut their pay amid ongoing Fatah-Hamas feud
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AFP) — Hani al-Laham sits down to a family dinner after a long day of fasting, but he has little to celebrate as the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches.
Despite Laham having a monthly salary of NIS 1,700 ($475), tied to a job in the security services, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has repeatedly failed to pay him.
He is one of nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza on the PA’s payroll. More than a decade ago the PA ordered its employees in the enclave to stay at home, over a dispute with Gaza’s Hamas rulers, promising to continue paying their salaries.
But now the money has been cut back.
“This is a disaster, Gaza is collapsing,” said Laham, whose financial woes have seen the family evicted from their rented home in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
They have now moved to a homemade shack on the coast near Gaza City, but even that meager existence is threatened. The local municipality is trying to demolish their temporary home, claiming it was built without the necessary permits.
“If they give me back my salary, I will rent an apartment. I am tired of this life,” the 55-year-old told AFP.
Last week Laham finally received a small sum of money, ahead of the Eid al-Fitr Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan, but it doesn’t cover the family’s basic needs.
“Where should we go? Burn ourselves?” his wife Noor, 33, asked.
West Bank protest
The family’s situation — and that of thousands of other Gazans — is one of the idiosyncrasies of the bitter intra-Palestinian conflict.
The Islamist Hamas terror group seized control of Gaza in 2007 after bloody battles with forces from the Fatah faction and the Mahmoud Abbas-led PA.
Hamas argued it had won the 2006 parliamentary elections and been deprived of the right to rule after the international community refused to accept the result. The Gaza takeover was deemed a coup by Abbas, who eventually told his employees not to go to work until Hamas ceded power.
The salaries of staff including judges, doctors and ministry workers continued to be paid while they waited for bickering politicians to allow them to return to jobs.
But years later they are stuck, with Israel and Egypt imposing a blockade on Gaza that has crippled the economy and no realistic employment opportunities under Hamas. Israel and Egypt say the controls are aimed at preventing Hamas from importing weapons and other goods that can be used to build cross- border tunnels and fortifications.
Recently, facing financial shortfalls and seeking to isolate Hamas, Abbas sought to make cuts to the Gaza salaries, which constituted a major source of cash income for the beleaguered Strip.
Last year they were reduced by 30 percent, while in March the PA paid nothing at all — without explanation.
The following month Abbas promised the salaries would be paid within a few days, but nothing happened.
Finally, 50% of one month’s salary was paid on June 5, ahead of Eid which will likely be celebrated Friday.
The Ramallah government has said the lack of payment is a “technical” issue, but it has long had budgetary problems.
Critics also argue that by cutting salaries the PA is seeking to sow discord among Gaza’s two million residents, and make life difficult for Hamas.
Hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank took to the streets of Ramallah on Sunday and Wednesday to demand that salaries be paid in Gaza, a rare show of opposition in the city where Abbas’s government is based.
The latter protest had been banned by the Palestinian administration and security forces dispersed demonstrators with tear gas and sound grenades.
The United Nations warned last month that Gaza could be on the brink of war, after over 120 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Hamas-initiated border protests. Israel says most of the dead were terror group operatives or individuals who attempted to breach the border fence or attack soldiers. The terror groups themselves have said dozens of the dead were their members.
Hamas, which has spurred the demonstrations, has fought three wars with Israel since 2008 and seeks to destroy it.
A ‘humiliating life’
The salary cuts have also affected Gazans’ health.
Sabara Abu Ali, 67, has kidney failure but can no longer afford the necessary care after her income was stopped.
“I get dialysis three times a week” at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, she said. “I don’t even have the 30 shekels I need for transport each day.”
“How could you desert us, Abu Mazen?” she asked, using Abbas’s Arabic nickname.
Yasser, an employee of the health ministry, said even if he were to receive his full salary, his debts are such that once the bank takes its loan repayment and electricity and telephone bills are paid he would have only NIS 75 left.
“I have debts to the supermarket, the greengrocer, the pharmacy, university fees for my daughter and school fees for my youngest,” he said.
Yasser said his financial situation led his wife to desert him, taking the children and returning to her family home.
“Suicide is better than this humiliating life,” he said.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
