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Amidst all the Middle Eastern chaos that has Danish manufactured Legos being boycotted by enraged Muslims deeply offended by cartoons, we now find Hamas waging a totally new war to just pay its employees.
The Palestinian Authority needs $116 million to cover the monthly payroll. As of yesterday they have come up short. 137,000 employees of the new Hamas led government are being told their overdue payments will come hopefully in the next "two weeks." If my math is correct that is nearly $850 worth of Legos per employee.
Is this the result of clever world collaboration to destabilize Hamas? Actually, this financial bind is not entirely driven by the world's recent "wait and see" aid-diplomacy following the surprise landslide election victory of Hamas. The Palestinians have had an aggressive spending program that according to the World Bank had reached a budget deficit of $800 million in 2005.
A deficit of $800 million even after Western donors funneled about $900 million into the Palestinian Authority in 2005--including $400 million from the United States--to pay salaries and finance desperately needed infrastructure projects.
The Palestinian Authority is also hoping to receive aid from Arab countries and persuade the World Bank to release $60 million in frozen aid. The World Bank withheld the aid in December because the Palestinians did not follow through on fiscal reform promises, the bank said.
Meanwhile
Israel said it was suspending its monthly tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority, worth about $45 million, pending further review.
Bush also suggested the remaining $150 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority would be suspended following reviews by the Senate.
About the only country clear on its support toward Hamas has been Iran and we can only imagine what besides funding will flow to Hamas from that regime.
"The Islamic republic of Iran congratulates Hamas and all the Palestinian soldiers and the great Islamic people." Iran and Hamas are allies and declared in December that they represented a "united front" against Israel. "The Palestinians have voted for the resistance and have shown their loyalty," Asefi said.
So with funds suspended, a government in an untenable situation and the world closely watching... what response from Hamas do we see?
More of the same...
Israel Defense Forces troops on Friday thwarted what could be a major terror attack when arresting two Palestinians attempting to smuggle explosive belts out of the West Bank city of Nablus.The Palestinians, aged 20 and 21, said they had been planning to bring the two explosives belts, each holding seven kg of explosives, to someone on the other side of a checkpoint on the northern end of Nablus, who was planning to detonate them in the center of the country.
Maybe it's still too early to judge? But is this how Hamas warms up to the World Bank?
Gunmen in Gaza surrounded the local European Union office Wednesday and threatened to kidnap citizens of countries where newspapers had published the cartoons.
Maybe all this chaos is just a stronger reminder, that the rage in the Middle East truly does not stem from a fear of budget deficits in the PA and a lack of aid from the West. Yes, evidently even at the cost of employing ones own government.
