Happy days are here againThe skies above are clear again...
NUSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AFP) - Cash-strapped Palestinian civil servants will begin to receive their salaries within the next two days, Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya said.
And you can trust him because he's not like the others...
"Tomorrow or the day after, the banks will start to pay the salaries and grant loans to civil servants," Haniya announced during a sermon at a mosque in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
...or the day after that. Or Monday. Or maybe next week. Or...
"We have a lot of money but the United States is preventing the banks from transferring it," the prime minister added.
See! It's the Great Satan! Or the Jooooos! Or the Boogy Man!
None of the more than 160,000 civil servants employed by the Palestinian Authority has been paid since February, affecting the livelihoods of around one million people or a quarter of those living in Gaza and the West Bank.
A Palestinian fiscal crisis has been greatly exacerbated since the European Union and US suspended direct aid after Hamas took office in March, given the Islamists' refusal to renounce violence or to recognise Israel. Israel has also suspended the payment of customs duties, worth around 60 million dollars a month, to the Palestinian Authority on goods that transit through its territory.
Haniya had said Tuesday that around 40,000 of the workforce would be paid in full in the coming days if they earn less than 330 dollars a month. He said the rest would receive loans from the government.
| Which means they'll be indebted to do whatever Hamas tells them ... |
Yep. Any day now.
Ahead of a looming deadline from Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas for the differing factions to agree on a common platform or face a public plebiscite, Haniya said people did not have time for referendums. "Our people don't have time for elections and referendums because they need to concentrate on ways to end the siege and foil the world conspiracy against our cause," he said.
Here's an idea. Change the name to "Whinyland". At least we'll all appreciate the honesty...