Hamas-led cabinet has made intensive contact with the office of
the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the past few hours in a
bid to ease the ongoing financial crisis, Palestinian sources
revealed on Sunday.
Abbas is currently in Jordan to coordinate the financial
assistance from Arab countries in order to pay salaries owed to the
government employees as soon as possible.
The cabinet and the presidential office were trying to solve
their disputes over the competences on finance, security and border
crossings, the sources said.
Both sides also discussed the formation of a joint delegation
headed by Abbas to make a tour to the Arab world to raise funds for
the cash-strapped Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology Jamal
al-Khudari, who is in UAE for talks on financial aid, said that he
telephoned President Abbas and briefed him on the results of the
talks he held during his current tour.
Al-Khudari urged Abbas to assist the government by releasing
funds from the Palestinian Investment Fund.
inister of Planning Samir Abu Eisheh on Saturday also met with
Abbas in Jordanian capital of Amman for the same purpose.
Meanwhile, the first deputy to the parliament Speaker Ahmad
Bahar affirmed that the cabinet had received big financial support
from Iran, saying that the size of support would be announced
later.
he Hamas-led cabinet, which took office on March 29, delayed
payment of about US$120 million of monthly salaries to about
140,000 government employees due to the halt of financial aid by
donor countries, mainly the United States and the European
Union.
Israel has also halted the monthly transfer of about US$50
million of tax revenues it collects on behalf of the PNA since
Hamas won the parliamentary elections in January.
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2006)
