Despite Illegal Drugs And Counterfeit Money, Hamas Still Can't Make Ends Meet

Of course, no one is surprised that Abbas and his friends are suffering from an economic crisis. After all, the corruption and incompetence of the PA is well known.

Hezbollah has also been in the news because of its finances. Hezbollah has lost $1.4billion and can rely less and less on their sugar daddies in Iran.

And now it turns out that Hamas is feeling the economic crunch as well:

Hamas also seems to be facing a financial crisis and, like the Palestinian Authority, has not been able to pay full salaries to its civil servants in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas legislator Yahya Musa called on the Hamas government to “be frank with the people and tell them the truth about the financial situation.”

...Sources in the Gaza Strip said that because of the financial crisis, the Hamas government has in recent months paid only half salaries to its employees.

Ismail Mahfouz, a senior official with the Hamas-run Ministry of Finance, denied that his government was facing a financial crisis. He said that the delay in paying the salaries was due to lack of cash in the hands of the government.[emphasis added]

Some might say that the lack of cash in the hands of a government might be considered to constitute a financial crisis--but who am I to quibble?

Still, this is surprising considering the fact that Hamas, aka "the freely elected government of Gaza©", trafficks in illegal drugs. In addition, Hamas has also dabbled in printing counterfeit money as well.

Is it any wonder that Hamas and Fatah want to join together?
If Hamas can only pay half of the salaries and Fatah can only pay half of the salaries--then together they can pay all of the salaries!

Yeah, that must be it.

Hat tip: DF

Technorati Tag: Gaza and Hamas.