Rivals pay Hamas force by mistake

[frigidmagi]

BBC

The Palestinian Authority has accidentally paid the salaries of 3,000 members of Hamas's main security force.

According to the Fatah-run Palestinian information ministry, 3,000 members of its rival's Executive Force were paid before the mistake was noticed.

The payments were halted and most were reversed, Fatah officials say. But reports say hundreds of Hamas men were able to cash their salary cheques.

Hamas took over Gaza in mid-June, its Executive Force routing Fatah's forces.

This has left the Palestinian territories split and under the control of the rival factions - Hamas in Gaza, and Fatah in the parts of the West Bank not controlled by Israel.


To their surprise, [members of the Executive Force] got phone calls telling them to collect their salaries. They rushed to the bank
Fatah official

Israel and the international community has backed Palestinian Authority President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, while increasing the isolation of Hamas and completely cutting off Gaza and its 1.5 million residents.

Mr Abbas is refusing to engage in any kind of talks with Hamas.

Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by much of the international community which refuses to deal with it directly until it recognises Israel and renounces violence.

'Rushing to the bank'

A Hamas official in Gaza told the Reuters news agency that members of the Executive Force were contacted on Wednesday and told their salaries had been paid.

"To their surprise, they got phone calls telling them to collect their salaries. They rushed to the bank," the official said.

The official told Reuters that the payments were part of a general payment of the salaries of civil servants for July.

Civil servants in Gaza and the West Bank has also been receiving partial back payments for salaries that went unpaid after the Western aid embargo was imposed after Hamas came to power in 2006.

Salam Fayyad, the new prime minister in Mr Abbas's government in the West Bank, resumed paying wages last month to 133,000 Palestinian civil servants, but excluded 19,000 Hamas appointees.

Also on Wednesday, Palestinian medics in Gaza say that Israeli troops shot dead an unarmed man in the strip.

The Israeli army said the man had been spotted crawling near the border fence with Israel and was shot after he ignored orders to stop.

It said troops suspected he was planting a bomb.

DOH!

[Cynical Cat]

This is what happens when your accountants jobs are to steal money for corrupt purposes, not actually monitor what it is being spent on.