French proposal on aid to suffering Palestinians
Palestine-Israel-France, Politics, 4/29/2006

The Hamas-led Palestinian Authority (PA) government has reacted with caution and ambivalence to a French proposal for a special World Bank Fund account to directly channel salaries for some 155,000 civil servants and public employees who have not been paid their salaries due to crippling sanctions by the US, Israel and the European Union (EU).

The proposal was made by French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on Thursday during a visit by PA president Mahmoud Abbas. Palestinian Minister of Information Yousuf Rizqa said today that the government was dealing generally positively with the French proposal, but was awaiting to know procedural details before taking a final decision.

According to the proposal, a special account at the World Bank would be opened to channel salary payments directly to Palestinian public employees. The channeling of the salaries directly to beneficiaries would effectively bypass the Hamas-led government, which is boycotted by the United States, EU as well as Israel which is withholding more than 150 million dollars in Palestinian tax returns as an additional pressure tactics on the government.

Rizqa said the government of Ismael Haniya wanted to make sure that the implementation of the French proposal would not compromise government authority nor compromise the standards of financial transparency.

"In principle, I can tell you that we have no objections to paying the salaries directly to beneficiaries from a foreign-based fund, but before taking a final decision, we want to know the complete details of the French proposal, including the list of recipients and whether all or just some public employees would receive their salaries." On Friday, the PA cabinet discussed the French proposal in a meeting that lasted until after midnight.

Following the meeting, Rizqa said efforts were being made to convert over a hundred and fifty million US dollars into euros in order to facilitate their transfer to Palestinian banks. The Bush administration has warned banks in the region that they would be subject to American sanctions and punitive measures if they dealt with the Hamas government.

The Palestinian officials said the money donated by a number of Arab, Islamic and other friendly states would likely be transferred via Jordanian banks, but gave no details.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Premier Haniya, while speaking at a Gaza mosque following Friday's congregation prayer, said he hoped that the money procured by his government from Arab and Muslim states would be sufficient to pay last March's and April's salaries.

"Our ministers who went abroad received promises of aid for the Palestinian Authority. God willing, this money will be enough for last month's salaries and I hope it will be enough for next month. Now we are discussing how we can get this money to the occupied territories."

Earlier, Palestinian Finance Minister Omar Abdul Rizqa warned the United Sates that Palestinians would not blame Hamas but the West and Israel for their current plight.

"Our people know deep in their hearts that it is America and Israel and some European countries that are starving them not Hamas. This ordeal would eventually boomerang, not on Hamas, but on the US and Israel," Abdul Rizqa was quoted as saying.

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