(Globes-Israel) Ran Dagoni - Israel Ambassador to the U.S. Daniel Ayalon said Tuesday that Israel will oppose paying salaries to Hamas government employees in the PA via the humanitarian mechanism that the Quartet announced. U.S. and European diplomats said that the mechanism's funds might be used to pay the salaries of doctors, teachers, or other workers of the Hamas government. "I hope that the Quartet mechanism doesn't plan to finance the salaries of PA workers under the Hamas government," said Ayalon. "External financing of salaries will only strengthen Hamas, intensify violence, and block any chance of a solution." Sources in Washington said EU representatives in the Quartet lobbied to include the payments of salaries as one of the goals of the mechanism, but U.S. representatives strongly objected. Ayalon said that if the payment of PA civil service salaries is put on the agenda, "Israel will know how to deal with this." He stressed that Israel would definitely not agree to paying salaries of education system employees, who poison the minds of Palestinian children with anti-Semitic texts.
2006-05-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive