Israel, PA trade blame over frozen funds to disabled Gazans

Gaza residents who are entitled to disability benefits from Israel have been unable to collect them for 10 months, with both the Palestinian authority and Israel trading blame. Banks in Israel and Gaza ceased to cooperate with one another in late 2008, leading to the freezing of funds.

Israel said the PA has yet to reply to an Israeli proposal that would provide the critically needed money. The PA insists they responded to the proposal within two days, taking issue with a single clause. Since then, they say, the ball is in Israel's court.

"The situation is getting worse as time passes, and there are people who have become hungry," said Zakhi Masri, a Gaza resident who is eligible for disability benefits from Israel. "In most instances, this is our only income since we are unable to work due to injuries."

The money transfers stopped in December 2008. Only in May, following a Haaretz report, did Israeli officials from various areas of the political and defense establishment begin holding intensive discussions on the matter.

In August, Israeli officials proposed a solution to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Hussein al-Sheikh, a Palestinian official.

Israeli sources say that no response has been received, but Jihad al-Wazir, head of the Palestinian Monetary Authority, said a reply was sent two days later.

"The Israeli proposal contained a clause saying that if it was to be sued for forwarding the funds, it would deduct this money from the benefits. This clause is problematic and necessitated all kinds of approvals. We then sent a counter-proposal, which offered a way to forward the money directly to the beneficiaries' bank accounts, but Israel did not reply."