Banks in Gaza reopen

Palestinian banks in the Gaza Strip reopened this morning, the Palestinian Monetary Authority said in a statement.

Thousands of employees queued in front of cash machines all over the Strip to receive their salaries after seven days of protests by employees recruited by the former Palestinian government led by Hamas.

The new Palestinian unity government has now taken control of the Strip; it has paid the salaries of the former Fatah government in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and ignored those of the former Hamas government in Gaza.

As soon as Fatah employees reached cash machines, Hamas’ employees in Gaza started their protests clashed with member of Fatah and damaging the cash machines.

Security services in Gaza calmed the situation and kept people away from the banks until this morning when the monetary fund in Ramallah ordered the reopening of the banks.

“We will continue observing the situation and we will remain on alert in case of any clashes,” spokesman of the security services in Gaza Iyad Al-Bozom said in a statement.

He stressed that the police surrounded the banks for protection and to prevent clashes between the employees.

Hamas said that the new government has to undertake paying the salaries of all employees. Fatah envoy to the reconciliation talks Azzam Al-Ahmad said yesterday that the government is not responsible for Hamas’ employees.

The former Palestinian government led by Hamas recruited around 40,000 people in the different government institutions after all Fatah employees stopped working in the wake of Hamas gaining control of the Strip in mid-2007.