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Israel Reports on Qatari-Mediated Understandings with Hamas

Palestinians collect crabs amid the coronavirus outbreak at Beach refugee camp in Gaza City. (Reuters)
Palestinians collect crabs amid the coronavirus outbreak at Beach refugee camp in Gaza City. (Reuters)
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Israel Reports on Qatari-Mediated Understandings with Hamas

Palestinians collect crabs amid the coronavirus outbreak at Beach refugee camp in Gaza City. (Reuters)
Palestinians collect crabs amid the coronavirus outbreak at Beach refugee camp in Gaza City. (Reuters)

Israeli authorities released positive reports on major efforts being exerted to reach Qatari-mediated agreements with the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.

At the same time, Israeli military reports predicted an escalation in the coastal enclave in the near future, perhaps even as early as the US presidential elections on Tuesday.

They suggested that the upcoming anniversary of the assassination of commander in the “Islamic Jihad” Baha Abu al-Ata may be spark an escalation. Abu al-Ata who was killed by Israel in a targeted assassination on November 12, 2019.

Moreover, a military source said Palestinians are frustrated at Israel’s slow pace in easing the siege on the Gaza Strip and its reluctance to progress towards new understandings.

Hama leaders complained to Qatar and Egypt over Israel’s failure to lift many restrictions and its holding up of Gaza infrastructure projects.

According to Israelis, these complaints are usually followed by security developments, such as rockets fired at Israeli towns.

They warned Hamas and the Islamic Jihad of the consequences of an escalation.

The Jihad considered these army leaks as Israeli threats aimed not only at stirring up tension but also to disrupt internal Palestinian reconciliation efforts.

Member of the Jihad political bureau Mohammed al-Hindi warned against “major Arab and foreign pressure” aimed at delaying the reconciliation.

He called on the Fatah movement to immediately hold elections that would reorganize Palestinian institutions.

“The popular resistance will dominate the next phase,” he stressed, highlighting the battle of will and faith led by the prisoner Maher al-Akhras, who has been on hunger strike since July.

The detainee will win because the entire Palestinian population is behind him, he declared.

Secretary General of Fatah's Central Committee Jibril Rajoub affirmed that the Palestinians are no longer divided and are working to achieve real national unity through ongoing dialogue with Hamas and other factions.

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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares's face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.
"I've been here for four hours and I haven't so much as touched my pension," said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.

"The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long," he continued.

Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.

Decades of punishing sanctions imposed on the Assad dynasty -- which the new authorities are seeking to have lifted -- have left about 90 percent of Syrians under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet.

Prior to his ousting, Assad's key ally Russia held a monopoly on printing banknotes. The new authorities have only announced once that they have received a shipment of banknotes from Moscow since Assad's overthrow.
In a country with about 1.25 million public sector employees, civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs to make withdrawals, capped at about 200,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent on the black market of $20 per day.

In some cases, they have to take a day off just to wait for the cash.

"There are sick people, elderly... we can't continue like this," said Abu Fares.

'Meagre sums'
"There is a clear lack of cash, and for that reason we deactivate the ATMs at the end of the workday," an employee at a private bank told AFP, preferring not to give her name.

A haphazard queue of about 300 people stretches outside the Commercial Bank of Syria. Some are sitting on the ground.

Afraa Jumaa, a civil servant, said she spends most of the money she withdraws on the travel fare to get to and from the bank.

"The conditions are difficult and we need to withdraw our salaries as quickly as possible," said the 43-year-old.
"It's not acceptable that we have to spend days to withdraw meagre sums."

The local currency has plunged in value since the civil war erupted in 2011, prior to which the dollar was valued at 50 pounds.

Economist Georges Khouzam explained that foreign exchange vendors -- whose work was outlawed under Assad -- "deliberately reduced cash flows in Syrian pounds to provoke rapid fluctuations in the market and turn a profit".

Muntaha Abbas, a 37-year-old civil servant, had to return three times to withdraw her entire salary of 500,000 pounds.

"There are a lot of ATMs in Damascus, but very few of them work," she said.

After a five-hour wait, she was finally able to withdraw 200,000 pounds.

"Queues and more queues... our lives have become a series of queues," she lamented.