Lebanon: Banks Allow Withdrawal of Small Deposits

Lebanon’s central bank is seen closed under a national lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, in Beirut, Lebanon March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon’s central bank is seen closed under a national lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, in Beirut, Lebanon March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Lebanon: Banks Allow Withdrawal of Small Deposits

Lebanon’s central bank is seen closed under a national lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, in Beirut, Lebanon March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon’s central bank is seen closed under a national lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, in Beirut, Lebanon March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

In an attempt to avoid further escalation by Hezbollah, Lebanese banks have agreed with the Lebanese central bank to allow small depositors with dollar denominated accounts to withdraw their money in local currency.

Based on a circular issued by the central bank last week, the holders of accounts worth $3,000 or less will be able to withdraw their money in Lebanese pounds at the market rate, which is more than 50% higher than the official rate.

Speaker Nabih Berri received Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on Tuesday, with whom he discussed the recent financial and monetary measures and the means to secure the money of small depositors.

Berri reaffirmed the need to deal with the “people’s banks deposits as sanctities that cannot be disposed of under any circumstances.”

The central bank's decision came a few days after a warning by Hezbollah. In a televised speech, the party's Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, said: “You are able to address the conditions of small depositors and students abroad, and this matter can no longer be tolerated.”

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, well-informed sources said that Nasrallah’s rhetoric has pushed the banks to ease restrictions on withdrawals, “as the priority now was to provide the people with their money rather than searching for aid, especially in these difficult circumstances.”

“The party would have adopted greater escalatory steps if banks had not responded,” the sources underlined.

Banking sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that there were around 1.7 million accounts of less than $3,000. The total deposits of those accounts reach around $796 million, while the number of accounts, in which the value of deposits ranges between $3,000-20,000 is around 451,000, encompassing a total value of $4.2 billion.



Anxiety Clouds Easter for West Bank Christians

Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
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Anxiety Clouds Easter for West Bank Christians

Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP

In the mainly Christian Palestinian town of Zababdeh, the runup to Easter has been overshadowed by nearby Israeli military operations, which have proliferated in the occupied West Bank alongside the Gaza war.

This year unusually Easter falls on the same weekend for all of the town's main Christian communities -- Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican --- and residents have attempted to busy themselves with holiday traditions like making date cakes or getting ready for the scout parade.

But their minds have been elsewhere.

Dozens of families from nearby Jenin have found refuge in Zababdeh from the continual Israeli military operations that have devastated the city and its adjacent refugee camp this year.

"The other day, the (Israeli) army entered Jenin, people were panicking, families were running to pick up their children," said Zababdeh resident Janet Ghanam.

"There is a constant fear, you go to bed with it, you wake up with it," the 57-year-old Anglican added, before rushing off to one of the last Lenten prayers before Easter.

Ghanam said her son had told her he would not be able to visit her for Easter this year, for fear of being stuck at the Israeli military roadblocks that have mushroomed across the territory.

Zabadeh's Anglican church was busy in the runup to Easter but across the West Bank Christian communities have been in sharp decline as people emigrate in search of a better life abroad.

Zabadeh looks idyllic, nestled in the hills of the northern West Bank, but the roar of Israeli air force jets sometimes drowns out the sound of its church bells.

"It led to a lot of people to think: 'Okay, am I going to stay in my home for the next five years?'" said Saleem Kasabreh, an Anglican deacon in the town.

"Would my home be taken away? Would they bomb my home?"

- 'Existential threat' -

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and in recent months far-right ministers in its coalition government have called for the annexation of swathes of the territory.

Kasabreh said this "existential threat" was compounded by constant "depression" at the news from Gaza, where the death toll from the Israel's response to Hamas's October 2023 attack now tops 51,000, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Work has been hard to find for Zababdeh's mainly Christian residents since Israel rescinded Palestinian work permits following the October 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war.

Zababdeh has been spared the devastation wreaked on Gaza, but the mayor's office says nearly 450 townspeople lost their jobs in Israel when Palestinian work permits were rescinded after the Hamas attack.

"Israel had never completely closed us in the West Bank before this war," said 73-year-old farmer Ibrahim Daoud. "Nobody knows what will happen".

Many say they are stalked by the spectre of exile, with departures abroad fuelling fears that Christians may disappear from the Holy Land.

"People can't stay without work and life isn't easy," said 60-year-old maths teacher Tareq Ibrahim.

Mayor Ghassan Daibes echoed his point.

"For a Christian community to survive, there must be stability, security and decent living conditions. It's a reality, not a call for emigration," he said.

"But I´m speaking from lived experience: Christians used to make up 30 percent of the population in Palestine; today, they are less than one percent.

"And this number keeps decreasing. In my own family, I have three brothers abroad -- one in Germany, the other two in the United States."

Catholic priest Father Elias Tabban insists the hard times his congregation has been going though have deepened their faith.

Catholic priest Elias Tabban adopted a more stoical attitude, insisting his congregation's spirituality had never been so vibrant.

"Whenever the Church is in hard times... (that's when) you see the faith is growing," Tabban said.