Abbas' gov't inadvertently pays salaries to outlawed Hamas militia - Haaretz

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Thu., August 09, 2007 Av 25, 5767

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		Hamas gunmen riding in the back of a truck during a funeral in Gaza City on Wednesday. (AP)

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Last update - 18:01 08/08/2007

Abbas' gov't inadvertently pays salaries to outlawed Hamas militia

By The Associated Press

The government of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas inadvertently paid one month's salary to 3,500 members of the Hamas militia he outlawed, Finance Ministry officials said Wednesday.

The salaries were paid out of funds transferred by Israel, who specifically stipulated that the money mustn't reach Hamas.

The ministry ordered banks on Wednesday to cancel the deposits - totaling $2.3 million - made the day before, officials said in telephone interviews from the West Bank town of Ramallah.

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However, by the time the deposits were canceled, some of the militiamen had withdrawn the money, said Ahab Ghussen, a spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza.

"At first we thought that the people in Ramallah were showing regret and wanted to compensate the legitimate forces in Gaza, but we found that they still are displaying aggression toward their own people," Ghussen said.

It was unclear how much money militiamen withdrew.

One of the Finance Ministry officials said a computer error was responsible for the unintended payment. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

Abbas outlawed the Hamas militia in June after it wrested control of the Gaza Strip. The Finance Ministry is controlled by the government Abbas established in the West Bank town of Ramallah in the wake of Hamas' Gaza takeover.

In recent weeks, the ministry has been paying overdue wages to 170,000 civil servants, half of them security forces. For more than a year, the Palestinian Authority was able to pay only partial wages because of international sanctions imposed against it while it was governed by a Hamas-led cabinet. Those sanctions were lifted after Abbas ousted Hamas from power and set up a loyalist government.

Abbas meets Mubarak, says Hamas seizure of Gaza 'destructive'
On Wednesday, Abbas said that Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip was destructive to the quest for a Palestinian state and reiterated his rejection of any talks with the militant group.

Abbas made the comments after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, part of a flurry of meetings ahead of a U.S.-sponsored peace conference set for this fall.

The United States is still working with Israel, the Palestinians and Arab nations to hammer out the agenda of the meeting, which the Arabs want to tackle substantive issues of the peace process.

The conference is part of a strategy aimed at pushing the peace process between Israel and Abbas and isolating Hamas. Hamas has dismissed the conference.

"What Hamas did was destructive," Abbas told reporters, referring to the Gaza takeover. "Hamas helped all the enemies of the Palestinian people and those who don't want to a Palestinian state."

"If Hamas wants any dialogue, it must reverse all what it did in Gaza Strip," Abbas said after his talks with Mubarak in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria.

Abbas met on Monday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the West Bank town of Jericho. Olmert told Abbas he hopes to launch negotiations soon on establishing a Palestinian state, his clearest promise yet to tackle a final peace deal.

Last week, Abbas held talks in the West Bank with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Hamas has said it does not want to rule Gaza on its own, calling for a dialogue with Fatah to form a new unity government and restructure the Palestinian security forces, which are dominated by Abbas' faction.

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1.	Results	14:39	\|	Margie in Tel Aviv	08/08/07

2.	Hamas Wants Political Cover, Not Dialogue	14:44	\|	Dyinglikeflies	08/08/07

3.	Hamas in Jerusalem	15:48	\|	Semsem	08/08/07

4.	Abbas is the culprit	15:51	\|	Pegasus	08/08/07

5.	#2: don`t misunderestimate local concerns	15:53	\|	Paul Freedman	08/08/07

6.	# 1 Margie of Tel Aviv	16:00	\|	Lynn	08/08/07

7.	Hamas` denial	16:01	\|	Akiva Patysh	08/08/07

8.	Sooner or later	16:10	\|	Indrajaya	08/08/07

9.	Indrajaya	16:39	\|	Lynn	08/08/07

10.	#8: no reason why won`t happen again	16:47	\|	Paul Freedman	08/08/07

11.	To PF, #5- Then and Now	17:00	\|	Dyinglikeflies	08/08/07

12.	Looks like Hamas did everyone else a favour	17:03	\|	Sam	08/08/07

13.	4Pegasus,you`ve hit the nail on the head! I would like that the	17:14	\|	lakshmi	08/08/07

14.	Pegasus this is beyond Fatah-Hamas, this is about an Islamic Gaza	17:25	\|	Fuad	08/08/07

15.	#8 Indrajaya	17:52	\|	Jim	08/08/07

16.	Hamas shills here lie everyday	17:54	\|	Abu Bim Bam Salaam	08/08/07

17.	Other media have reported	18:06	\|	Mark Lincoln	08/08/07

18.	Sam, well put.	18:13	\|	Akiva Patysh	08/08/07

19.	I notice that this report contains	18:14	\|	Mark Lincoln	08/08/07

20.	Those Wacky, Silly, Terror-Supporters!	18:20	\|	Yishai Kohen	08/08/07

21.	Enchilads con carne	18:22	\|	Jim	08/08/07

22.	First the Money, Then the Guns	18:25	\|	Ron	08/08/07

23.	Stupid Israelis!	18:31	\|	Peter	08/08/07

24.	Radical left now supporting Hamas	18:39	\|	Sam	08/08/07

25.	lakshmi, Israel wants the whole enchilada???	18:49	\|	Akiva Patysh	08/08/07

26.	# 16 Mark Lincoln	19:03	\|	Jim	08/08/07

27.	# 19 Ron	19:09	\|	Jim	08/08/07

28.	Sam, well put.	19:10	\|	Akiva Patysh	08/08/07

29.	Ha`aretz, is Amira Haas monitoring today`s talkback?!	19:14	\|	Akiva Patysh	08/08/07

30.	Ha`aretz, is Amira Haas monitoring today`s talkback?!	19:14	\|	Akiva Patysh	08/08/07

31.	Of course it was an `accident`	19:15	\|	David	08/08/07

32.	Inadvertantly - no way	19:16	\|	Mike	08/08/07

33.	Inadvertently.......	19:18	\|	Dagma	08/08/07

34.	"inadvertently paid...	19:24	\|	common sense	08/08/07

35.	Computer glich....	19:35	\|	Palestinian Brit	08/08/07

36.	Arafat`s account probably appeared 100`s	19:48	\|	rich	08/08/07

37.	22Akiva P. an adult Palestinian would want his/her own land on	19:52	\|	lakshmi	08/08/07

38.	lakshmi, Resistance Movement?	19:56	\|	Akiva Patysh	08/08/07

39.	Abbas is a liar, playing Israel like a violin, and paying Hamas	19:56	\|	Tal	08/08/07

40.	It was unclear how much money militiamen withdrew	19:57	\|	vik	08/08/07

41.	lakshmi, Resistance Movement?	20:00	\|	Akiva Patysh	08/08/07

42.	13 fuad,you are still living with old stereotypical attitudes and	20:02	\|	lakshmi	08/08/07

43.	LOL!	20:09	\|	D	08/08/07

44.	Divide and conquor!!! Old standby isn`t it	20:10	\|	lilly	08/08/07

45.	Abbas` gov`t inadvertently pays salaries of outlawewd Hamas milit	20:19	\|	Martin List,M.D.	08/08/07

46.	Can`t make anyone happy	20:33	\|	Denton	08/08/07

47.	A days work for a days pay	20:40	\|	Natallie Durson	08/08/07

48.	Abbas-Hamas Payment	20:41	\|	Stephen	08/08/07

49.	Isreal--demand $$ back	20:47	\|	dan	08/08/07

50.	Only the gullible Israeli Gov`t believes this - Olmert has to go	21:07	\|	Norman	08/08/07

51.	Computer error	21:07	\|	Bill	08/08/07

52.	# 13 lakshmi, If Hamas so legit.......	21:08	\|	Lynn	08/08/07

53.	# 14 Fuad	21:09	\|	Lynn	08/08/07

54.	# 4 Pegasus wants perpetual war......	21:13	\|	Lynn	08/08/07

55.	Computer Troubleshooters	21:49	\|	Scrolls	08/08/07

56.	Pal Brit	22:04	\|	Hannah	08/08/07

57.	computer error...riiight	23:03	\|	real vision	08/08/07

58.	Was this really a accident	23:43	\|	Shepherd	08/08/07

59.	Hannah, on Beit Jala and Gilo	23:51	\|	Akiva Patysh	08/08/07

60.	Abbas and Hamas	23:54	\|	linda	08/08/07

61.	A computer error paid the hamas thugs	00:26	\|	Twogunz	09/08/07

62.	A month or a year?	02:36	\|	Mark Lincoln	09/08/07

63.	A silly response Mr Lincoln.	08:24	\|	Charlie Saks	09/08/07

64.	A mistake eh??	08:27	\|	Charlie Saks	09/08/07

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