Oil-rich Arab states reportedly have warned Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas that they won’t be able to continue giving financial aid to the American-backed Ramallah-based regime as long as “the Palestinian house remains divided against itself.”
According to Arab diplomatic sources as well as Palestinian officials in Ramallah, Saudi Arabia, the main Arab financier of the PA, Kuwait and Qatar informed the PA leadership that “from now-on, our financial contributions will be linked to efforts to restore Palestinian national unity.”
It is uncertain if the latest call by Abbas for expediting “national dialogue” with Hamas, which he made in Cairo earlier this week, had been prompted by the reported warning from the Gulf states.
Abbas said Fatah was willing to resume Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation talks with Hamas without preconditions.
However, Hamas rejected the call, calling it an attempt to divert attention from a car-bombing in Gaza on Friday which killed five members of Hamas security forces as well as a six-year-old girl.
Hamas blamed the “treasonous fifth column” in Fatah, a group led by former Gaza strongman Muhammed Dahlan, for the bombing. Fatah denied any involvement.
Some Arab states, specifically Qatar and Kuwait, have effectively stopped their financial support for the PA regime, prompting the PA leadership to press the US to pressure these states to honor earlier undertakings made during the Donor conference in Paris earlier this year.
The US State Department this week urged Arab and other donors to keep the PA financially afloat.
PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyadh this week appealed to the World Bank to help him secure emergency funds to bridge a shortfall in donor funds and pay public servants.
Earlier this week, a western news agency quoted unnamed European and Palestinian sources as saying that Fayyadh was seeking a so-called “comfort letter” from the Washington-based international lending agency to obtain short-term private bank funding.
Last week the PA promptly canceled plans to pay partial salaries to some 5000-6000 school teachers appointed under the Hamas-Fatah national government nearly two years ago. The teachers, who are yet to be fully instated in their jobs, are still awaiting “security clearances” from the PA Mukhabarat or (General Intelligence).
Palestinian officials have been saying that unless donors honor their pledges very soon, the PA will go bankrupt and won’t be able to pay salaries for its estimated 165,000 employees.
One of the main reasons for the latest financial crisis facing the PA has to do with the structural nature of the Palestinian budget.
The PA, a regime that lacks authority and sovereignty and survives on foreign donations, employes as many as 60,000 security personnel who devour the lion’s share of the budget.
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July 31, 2008 By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
