Rafah, Gaza Strip – Gaza’s public employees are getting paid on one condition: that they stay home.
Such is the irony of life in the Gaza Strip now that Hamas militants are firmly in charge. A rival pro-Western government in the West Bank is delivering salaries to most of Gaza’s civil servants as long as they don’t work.
The moderate Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas doesn’t want its money propping up Hamas, which violently seized control of Gaza in June. But neither does it want to punish Gaza’s mostly pro-Fatah 90,000 civil servants whose salaries form the backbone of the already badly bruised economy.
The result is a lot of inactivity. And many – fearful for their safety in a Hamas-dominated land – aren’t pleased about their holiday from work.
Abu Samer, a former security official in the prime minister’s office, spends his days channel surfing and Internet browsing in search of news that might offer hope that Hamas’ rule could be short-lived.
Mustafa, a senior police detective until Hamas’ takeover who wouldn’t give his last name, plays cards and watches TV much of the day and says he’s “very bored.”
Abu Osama, a Fatah-allied out-of-work border official, says that since Hamas’ takeover, he’s gone from smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day to two. He finds himself snapping at his two children.
“If you’re in a good mood, your mood is reflected to your family,” said the 39-year-old Gazan.
Gaza’s beaches are packed these days, especially at night. Many out-of-work civil servants have taken to hanging out at the beach until the wee hours of the morning, then sleeping until late in the afternoon to avoid daytime boredom.
The fact that the idle workers interviewed did not wish to use their full names is a testament to their anxiety. Hamas issued an amnesty for its Fatah rivals soon after seizing power, but arrests, beatings and other forms of harassment are occurring.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Fatah of using the payments “to cause our movement to fail in Gaza.”
