Palestinian PM admits cash crisis

PALESTINIAN Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh yesterday said his new Hamas government is broke and may not be able to pay tens of thousands of public workers this month - the Islamic militants’ first admission that they will have difficulty running the West Bank and Gaza without massive foreign aid.

Mr Haniyeh offered no solutions to the cash crunch, pledging only to do his best to resolve the crisis and appealing to the Arab world to give more aid to the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority is the largest employer in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, providing salaries for 140,000 people and sustaining about one-third of the Palestinians.

Monthly salaries, due on April 1, have not been paid, and Mr Haniyeh said it is unclear how the government will meet its payroll.

“The Palestinian Finance Ministry has received an entirely empty treasury in addition to the debt of the government in general,” Mr Haniyeh told the first meeting of his Cabinet.

Palestinian Finance Minister Omar Abdel Razek said he is waiting for €65 million from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.