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For Palestinian Hamas Faction, Surprise Payday

Fatah accidentally bankrolls rival's security forces

By Heather McPherson,  Newser User

Posted Aug 9, 2007 2:56 PM CDT
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(Newser) – To victors in Palestinian factional fighting went the spoils, if temporarily, the BBC reports. Officers of Hamas' security force, which wrested control of the Gaza Strip from rival Fatah in June, were notified yesterday that Fatah had paid their salaries. The West Bank-based, Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority rushed to correct its error—but not before hundreds cashed paychecks.

Western aid diminished after last year's election victory by Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by many governments. Civil-service salaries dwindled—until a slip meant big bank for 3,000 officers. "To their surprise, they got phone calls telling them to collect their salaries. They rushed to the bank," one official said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007. The Palestinian president and the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, are to meet Monday in the West Bank to try narrowing their differences ahead of a planned peace...
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007. The Palestinian president and the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert,...   (Associated Press)
The ministry ordered banks on Wednesday to cancel the deposits, totaling $2.3 million, made the day before, officials said in telephone interviews from the West Bank town of Ramallah. But by then, some of the militiamen had withdrawn the money, said a spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in...
The ministry ordered banks on Wednesday to cancel the deposits, totaling $2.3 million, made the day before, officials said in telephone interviews from the West Bank town of Ramallah. But by then, some...   (Associated Press)
Palestinians Hamas militants ride in the back of a truck during the funeral of militants Mohammed al-Batniji and Fadi Irqiql in Gaza City, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
Palestinians Hamas militants ride in the back of a truck during the funeral of militants Mohammed al-Batniji and Fadi Irqiql in Gaza City, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)   (Associated Press)
Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas unintentionally paid one month's salary to the same group he has outlawed. Payment was stopped on many, but far from all, of the checks. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas unintentionally paid one month's salary to the same group he has outlawed. Payment was stopped on many, but far from all, of the checks. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)   (Associated Press)
Disposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of the Islamic group Hamas, heads a cabinet meeting in his office in Gaza City, Monday, Aug. 6, 2007. Ehud Olmert on Monday became the first Israeli prime minister to visit a Palestinian town since the outbreak of fighting seven years ago, meeting under...
Disposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of the Islamic group Hamas, heads a cabinet meeting in his office in Gaza City, Monday, Aug. 6, 2007. Ehud Olmert on Monday became the first Israeli...   (Associated Press)
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The bureaucratic error may actually have been a purposeful "goodwill gesture"
Jerusalem Post (Israel)

Gaza doctors stop work in protest of Fatah dismissals
Reuters

 
Palestinian Authority • Gaza • Palestine • Hamas • Fatah • West Bank • salary • civil service

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