Special to WorldTribune.com

GAZA CITY — Hamas, amid rising unrest, has ordered the closure of all banks in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian sources said Hamas police were stationed outside banks throughout the Gaza Strip since June 4.

The sources said the deployment was meant to prevent raids by unpaid Hamas civil servants on the financial institutions in wake of the formation of a Palestinian Authority unity government.

“Hamas is attempting to burden the Palestinian Authority and the national consensus government with its political and financial crisis,” Fatah movement spokesman Ahmed Assaf said.

On June 4, hundreds of Hamas civil servants rampaged through the streets of Gaza City after they failed to receive their salaries at local banks. Hamas, which also blocked all credit card transactions, acknowledged its failure to pay the civil servants and urged the Palestinian Authority to assume responsibility. In 2007, Hamas expelled the PA and seized power in the Gaza Strip.

“How dare the unity government rush to pay the salaries of Ramallah’s employees who stopped working seven years ago while preventing the payment of salaries to those who really worked on the ground during this period?” Hamas spokesman Khalil Al Haya said. “Can this paradox still exist even
after the [end] of the [Fatah-Hamas] split?”

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights has demanded the reopening of
Gaza banks. The human rights group said the closure threatened the economy
and stability.

“The role of the law enforcement officials is to open the Gaza banks
immediately and facilitate their work as well as protecting civilians and
enabling them to have safe access into them,” the center said. “The
continued closure of the banks constitutes a dangerous precedent that must
be ended.”

The sources said Hamas, which formally disbanded the Gaza government,
has been assured by Qatar that it would pay the salaries of some 50,000
civil servants. But they said Doha violated previous pledges to alleviate
Gaza’s fiscal crisis.

“We will not accept this continued uncertainty regarding the salary
payment date,” Gaza Employees Union chairman Mohammed Siyam said.
“Reconciliation shall not come at the expense of employees. Otherwise, we
will resort to a series of protest measures.”

  Gaza City, Gaza Employees Union, Hamas closes banks as unpaid civil servants fume, Palestinian Center for Human Rights