NETANYA, Israel, (UPI) -- Hamas may have the power, but they don't have the money. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh whose Hamas-led government was sworn in last week said Wednesday it found, "An entirely empty treasury."
Haniyeh's account coincided with a report that United Nations officials are warning of an impending humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel, along with the United States, the European Union Russia and the United Nations, is trying to force the radical Islamic Hamas to honor agreements the previous Palestinian administration had signed, cease terror and recognize the Jewish state.
Hamas has rejected these demands and Israel froze money it collected on the Palestinians' behalf and does not let their ministers cross through its territory to hold their meetings in one place.
Seeing that Haniyeh and several ministers are in Gaza, and others in Ramallah, the new Palestinian cabinet resorted to holding a videoconference. "The Ministry of Finance has received an entirely empty treasury in addition to the debts of the ministry and the government in general," the Ramatan news agency reported.
The tax returns that Israel froze -- some $50 million to $60 million a month -- and donations from other countries have covered some 80 percent of the Palestinian budget. Several banks now refuse to deal with the Hamas government since the United States considers it a terrorist organization and they do not want a run-in with the American legal system.
Addressing a conference on "The Challenges of Hamas," at the Strategic Dialogue Center in Netanya's College, Thursday, the Israeli Finance Ministry's former Director General Ministry David Brodet expected the developments to cause a further drop in the Palestinians' purchasing power, more unemployment and poverty.
The Haaretz newspaper said that a United Nations report soon to be released warns that withholding aid money and closing the border crossings could lead to a 25 percent drop in the Palestinians' Gross National Product. In the fist quarter of this year the product per capita was down to $700 in Gaza, and $1,000 in the West Bank, Brodet reckoned.
Former Palestinian Minister Sufian Abu Zaida warned the PA would collapse if salaries are withheld for more than three months. There will be no government, no police, no security if the authority fails to raise the money, he said in Netanya.
Brodet predicted the international community would come through to prevent hunger. Israel too should prevent it to avoid a backlash, he argued.
Most of the donor money comes from Europe that is more lenient towards the Palestinians than the United States. Additionally, Arab, Muslim and Iranian money might go through. "There is a lot of Arab money and there will be pressures to increase contributions," he predicted.
Haniyeh, who must pay some 140,000 civil servants, declared that, "Not a single minister will receive his salary and financial allocations unless all PA employees and prisoners and martyrs' families receive their wages and allocations," Hamas' website reported.
Israel again closed the Karni Terminal, the main crossing point for goods to and from Gaza. The Israelis cited intelligence alerts of an impending Palestinian attack there.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Karni was closed it for almost 50 days this year.
"Successive closures since the start of the year had led to widespread shortages that reached a peak ... when the few bakeries that remained open introduced rationing to people waiting in long queues outside their premises," OCHA said.
When the crossing was reopened hundreds of trucks brought supplies that replenished the depleted stocks, OCHA added.
The Defense Minister's assistant, retired Brig. Gen. Baruch Spiegel, blamed the Palestinians for the closures and resulting food shortages.
Karni was closed because "we knew" it was about to be attacked, Spiegel said. Israel -- and the United States -- gave the PA the names of the people about to attack, and asked they be arrested. Israel said it would then reopen the crossing but the Palestinians did not move, Spiegel continued.
Israel built another crossing at Kerem Shalom, where the Israeli, Egyptian and Gazan borders converge. It offered Kerem Shalom as the crossing point for basic foodstuffs and for goods that arrived at its Ashdod port for Gaza. However Palestinian infighting and political reasons led the PA to reject the offer. Kerem Shalom opened only for shipments of flour sugar and rice from Egypt, Spiegel said.
He noted Israel invested more than $30 million in building a new terminal at Erez, in the northern tip of the Gaza Strip. A civilian company replaced the army than ran it.
"One day after it became a civilian crossing it was attacked and closed," Spiegel said. "When we need basic coordination (with the Palestinians over running the terminal), setting a queue, regulating (the flow) -- there is none," he said. A fortnight ago a tunnel was found near the Kerem Shalom crossing, he added.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza particularly troubled him. European Union monitors are in Rafah but they are supposed to be passive to hostile elements and banned goods get through. The Europeans, Americans, Egyptians, Palestinians and Israelis know it but it is difficult to control the phenomena. 'Grad or Scud' missiles were smuggled from Egypt in tunnels, he said.
Israel might have difficulties shirking all responsibility for Gaza, although it has no troops there, because it surrounds the strip except for the Rafah crossing, controls the coast and prevents a reopening of the airport. If the border arrangements do not work it might exclude the Gaza Strip from is customs envelope with the Palestinians, Spiegel hinted.
Brodet, who headed the Israeli delegation that negotiated the Paris protocols that established the envelope, said he believed Israel and Hamas would like to amend it. Israel left the Gaza Strip, is building a barrier around the West Bank so it could control the movement of goods, and most Israelis want a break with the Palestinians. Hamas would be interested in such a move because it does not want close ties with Israel, Brodet said.
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