On the brink: Palestinian Authority checks are bouncing

RAMALLAH — The increasingly unpopular Palestinian Authority is on the verge of bankruptcy and under increasing pressure to stop its gunmen from shooting at Israeli positions near Arab cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

PA officials have been inundated with demands from prominent Palestinians that their lives have become intolerable because PA and Fatah gunmen have shot at Israeli military and civilian positions from Palestinian homes. This, they said, has resulted in heavy Israeli retaliation.

Meanwhile the Palestinian Authority is calling for an immediate infusion of cash to stave off bankruptcy, Middle East Newsline reported.

Officials said they need nearly $50 million within the next few weeks to pay salaries to more than 100,000 public sector employees as well as maintain PA services. They said they have exhausted local banks and foreign banks have refused to offer any loans.

"We are on the verge of bankruptcy," PA Finance Ministry director-general Sami Ramlawi said. "Last month, we couldn't pay salaries and had to pay only a portion of them."

Officials said checks issued by the PA are bouncing. This includes aid to families of those killed in clashes with Israel. The Islamic opposition has assumed many of the health services in Gaza.

These woes come amid rising criticism of the PA. A survey by the Bet Sahour-based Palestinian Center for Public Opinion reported that 56.8 percent of the respondents called for immediate legislative elections and more than 40 percent called the PA a failure.

Longstanding resentment at endemic corruption in the PA has been intensified by the tactics employed in the current mini-war with Israel. On late Thursday, the Gaza settlement of Netsarim came under mortar attack from Palestinian fighters near Gaza City. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility. The PFLP claimed that a Palestinian bus driver, who on Wednesday mowed down Israeli commuters at a hitching station near Tel Aviv, was a member.

The criticism has been harshest from Palestinians in neighborhoods in Ramallah and Bethlehem that have borne the brunt of Israeli retaliation. They said their neighborhoods have been taken over by thugs from Fatah and PA security agencies.

Several leading Palestinians have warned that parts of major cities are being emptied and many of their residents would seek to emigrate.

PA security officials have done little to stop the gunmen. But in an unusual move, the PA has appealed to Fatah gunmen to stop using populated areas to shoot at Israelis.