Banks in Gaza shut as Israel chokes cash flow
Arizona Coin Collector
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/33548be2-c33a-11dd-a5ae-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
Banks in Gaza shut as Israel chokes cash flow
By Tobias Buck in Jerusalem
Published: December 6 2008 02:00
Last updated: December 6 2008 02:00
Banks inside Gaza have been forced to shut
because of a shortage of cash.
Tens of thousands of families have been left
without money before a Muslim festival on Monday.
Palestinian officials said Gaza's financial
institutions had nearly run out of notes and
coins as the result of severe Israeli curbs on
the flow of goods, people and money into and
out of the strip.
Already stringent restrictions were
tightened last month, after a flare-up in
violence between Israel and the Islamist Hamas
group, which took over the Gaza strip last year.
Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank primarily
use the Israeli currency, the shekel, and rely
on transfers of notes and coins from Israel.
Other currencies, such as the US dollar and the
Jordanian dinar, are also in use but are now in
equally short supply in Gaza.
International organisations and senior
Palestinian officials have pleaded with Israeli
authorities to allow the transfer of cash into
Gaza as a priority.
Jihad al-Wazir, the governor of the Palestinian
Monetary Authority, warned the Bank of Israel
in a letter last month that Gaza-based banks
were facing "severe liquidity problems" and had
seen their cash reserves dwindle to 47m shekels
($12m, ?9m, £8m). Gaza has a population of
1.5m people.
The letter, a copy of which has been seen by the
Financial Times, warned of a "huge contagious
effect to the whole banking system in Palestine"
if his request for the transfer of 185m shekels
were not met. The situation has since
deteriorated.
Customers reportedly stormed a bank branch in
Khan Younis, a town in southern Gaza, on
Wednesday after it ran out of cash.
Fearing similar outbreaks of violence and in
light of a lack of notes and coins, almost all
banks and cash machines in Gaza have been
closed since Thursday.
The cash crisis has prevented the payment of
December salaries to tens of thousands of Gazans
employed by the Palestinian Authority, which is
based in the West Bank and regards the Hamas
government in Gaza as illegitimate. Officials
and workers who receive their pay from Hamas
were reportedly paid on time, deepening the
rift between the two groups.
The lack of cash has affected international
organisations. The United Nations Relief and
Works Agency, which supplies aid to one in
two Gazans, was forced to suspend cash
distribution to 94,000 Palestinians last week.
The problem is exacerbated by the need for
Muslims to prepare for the religious festival
of Eid al-Adha on Monday, a time when they
spend more money on food and presents.
..
Jim Reston
No where in this one-sided account is there any reference to Israel's
position. Instead the Arab lover's at the FT says Israel is "choking"
the Palestinians. Why should Israel be forced to fund their would be
executioners? It would be like in 1942 if the FT (or another paper at
the time) whined about the financial difficulties of the German public
and blamed the U.S. for not giving money and supplies to the Nazi's. Un
freakin- beliieble.
But I guess if you're a "journalist" in the Islamic republic of
Britainistan or in Eurabia you have to promote the Arab Muslim agenda if
you want to keep your job.
Certainly not a sock-puppet
> Baseless, inaccurate, and incendiary propoganda from the Financil Times.
> No where in this one-sided account is there any reference to Israel's
> position. Instead the Arab lover's at the FT says Israel is "choking"
> the Palestinians. Why should Israel be forced to fund their would be
> executioners? It would be like in 1942 if the FT (or another paper at
> the time) whined about the financial difficulties of the German public
> and blamed the U.S. for not giving money and supplies to the Nazi's.
Apostrophe's and they're use's, imbecile.
Also, off-topic, imbecile.
Terry
"Arizona Coin Collector" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:HL6dnYxW3q9odKTU...@earthlink.com...
So where is the cash going ? They need a continous input ?.
>
>
Slime Lowlife
<ste...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Coins being melted down into bullets & schrapnel? Notes getting burned
up in all the car bombing? That's my best guess.
Jim Reston
last 50 years. To pay for bombs, terrorism, and lining the pockets of
the corrupt warlords who run that g-d forsaken hellhole. After all the
billions of dollars that have been pissed away on the wortheless,
ungrateful savages over the past 60 years, you'd think western donars
would have finally wised up by now. But in the middle east it seems like
the Jizyah (Muslim Poll tax) and blood will continue to flow