The Palestinian Authority has apparently decided to stop paying for Gaza infrastructure as it has been. It will announce at the end of the Fatah conference that it will only send salaries to the 77,000 workers in Gaza who do no work.
More than half the PA budget goes to Gaza, and on a per-capita basis Gazans get twice as much PA aid [from the West] as West Bankers. Two years after Hamas violently overthrew the PA, the quasi-government still pays Hamas for electricity, water and fuel. A prominent Fatah member and ambassador to Beirut described Hamas (sort of) this way: "We see the lion's teeth, and he ain't smiling."
Another source said "I think that this farce must end, and that Hamas bears responsibility towards the people who they [claim they are] responsible for."
Hamas responded to the threats by saying that this only proves that the PA is collaborating with Israel. A Hamas spokesman said this "indicates that the Fatah movement had lost its senses and has started pouring the bulk of their anger on Hamas and the people, especially after failing in all attempts to impose a de facto policy on Hamas." He said that withholding the free money is "blackmail."
