A-RAM, West Bank, May 11 (UPI) -- An international proposal to channel money to Palestinians while bypassing their government Wednesday saw a mixed reaction in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Officials at the Palestinian presidency, which is controlled by the nationalist Fatah party, hailed the move. If it is done their way, the money might strengthen Fatah's position among Palestinians.
Their rival, the radical Islamic Hamas movement, whom the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization and treat accordingly, controls the Palestinian government. While its spokesman welcomed the international readiness to send over money, he criticized the political strings attached.
The Palestinian Authority is bankrupt and its 160,000 employees, including security men, have not been paid for the last two months.
Such delays are bad anywhere, but it is worse in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The World Bank's latest West Bank and Gaza update noted that in the third quarter of 2005, every employed person in the West Bank supported 5.2 people. In Gaza, each employee supported, on average, 7.7 people, the report said.
The economic situation worsened after Hamas won the January elections.
The Quartet, comprising the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, demanded that the Hamas government "commit itself to the principles of nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the road map (for peace)."
Hamas has not complied, and donor countries stopped their aid. Israel, which collects customs and Value Added Tax on the PA's behalf, suspended the transfers that usually amount to some $50 to 60 million and deposited the money in an escrow account.
The World Bank report said that if this situation continues, with crossings to Israel remaining closed and fewer Palestinians allowed to work in Israel, and if donors cut their assistance or eliminate all support for the budget, the real GDP per capita would decline by 27 percent in 2006. Personal incomes would drop by 30 percent.
So far Palestinians have stood up to the pressure, and public opinion polls have shown a slight increase in Hamas' popularity. But in the long run chaos may spread. If the Hamas government falls, there is no guarantee Fatah could take over, some observers warned.
All sides want to prevent a humanitarian crisis. So does Israel.
"The last thing we want to see is a humanitarian crisis," the head of Israel's National Security Council, Giora Eiland, said Wednesday. Recently Israeli officials have visited Washington to discuss the issue with their American counterparts.
On Tuesday U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik -- who represented the European Union -- and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan discussed the situation in New York.
They noted donors were willing to restore aid to the Palestinian government once it accepts the Quartet's demands, but that the Palestinian government has failed to meet that condition. Worse yet, Hamas justified last month's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv in which nine people were killed and scores wounded.
Quartet officials realized the suspension of foreign aid had failed to get Hamas to change its policy, the BBC reported. They therefore came up with the idea of helping Palestinian people while bypassing the Hamas government.
The Quartet's statement thus read: "Willingness to endorse a temporary international mechanism... that... ensures direct delivery of assistance to the Palestinian people. If these criteria can be met, the operation of the temporary international mechanism should begin as soon as possible and be reviewed after three months to determine whether it should continue."
The program would be limited in scope and duration, and operate with full transparency and accountability, the Quartet said.
Experts are to meet in Brussels shortly to develop the plan, but it will take weeks to devise, EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told the BBC.
According to Israeli officials, the idea is to create a fund, possibly led by the World Bank, which would disburse the money by communicating directly with employees or, in the case of medical staff, by contacting hospital directors.
"If it will be successful and reliable, we might change our policy (of not transferring funds)," Eiland told United Press International.
"Israel all along favors money transfers to Palestinians, (although) not through the PA or the Hamas government," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told the army radio station.
Nabil Abu Reudeineh, President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman, said they were "satisfied" a Quartet committee would handle the matter. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying, "We hope that the donor countries will rapidly resume aid so that a humanitarian catastrophe can be avoided."
The Palestinian government's reaction was mixed.
Spokesman Gazai Hamad welcomed the financial aspect of the Quartet's decision. "They want to send money, help the Palestinian people," he noted, although he criticized the Quartet's politics.
Over the past 12 years, the United States and the EU have complained of corruption in the Palestinian Authority, Hamad noted. They said, "Millions were lost and wasted and went to people's pockets. Now there is an honest government, so why not send the money through it," he asked.
Hamad told UPI he was "shocked" the Quartet presented the Palestinian government with conditions for aid but presented no conditions to Israel.
The Quartet's criticism of Hamas' reaction to the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv was "shameful," since it did not refer to the 20 Palestinians killed during Israeli attacks in Gaza, Hamad said.
But the Quartet statement "expressed its concern" over Israeli military operations that result in the loss of innocent life, and called for restraint. It also noted "with concern" the security barrier's route that involves "confiscation of Palestinian land and cuts off the movement of people and goods."
