Lebanese Banks to Start Open-Ended Strike, to Keep ATMs Working

A man uses an ATM machine outside a local bank in Beirut, Lebanon, 01 February 2023. (EPA)
A man uses an ATM machine outside a local bank in Beirut, Lebanon, 01 February 2023. (EPA)
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Lebanese Banks to Start Open-Ended Strike, to Keep ATMs Working

A man uses an ATM machine outside a local bank in Beirut, Lebanon, 01 February 2023. (EPA)
A man uses an ATM machine outside a local bank in Beirut, Lebanon, 01 February 2023. (EPA)

Banks in Lebanon will start an open-ended strike from Tuesday but will keep ATMs operating for basic services, the Lebanese Banks Association said on Monday, urging authorities to pass overdue measures to deal with a deep financial crisis.

The decision came after a meeting by the association to discuss judicial measures against banks that have snowballed since the onset of the crisis, and "their impacts on banking workflow and the rights of depositors", it said in a statement.

It called on Lebanese authorities to pass a capital control law that would enshrine informal restrictions on withdrawals in hard currency and Lebanese pounds, as well as legislation to restructure the country's troubled banks.

Lebanon's financial system imploded in 2019 after decades of profligate spending, corruption and mismanagement by ruling elites, leaving most depositors unable to freely access their funds and throwing thousands into poverty.

The crisis has been left to fester.

In April 2022 the government reached a draft deal with the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion bailout, but nearly a year later has failed to complete the steps required to clinch the accord, leading the IMF to note "very slow" progress.

Capital controls and a bank restructuring framework are among the IMF preconditions for the bailout.

The banks association also called for banking secrecy regulations to be abolished, including retroactively, which would allow lenders to share data with authorities and the judiciary for financial investigations.

Because capital controls have been imposed ad hoc, banks have faced lawsuits from customers seeking their deposits.

There have also been an array of allegations of financial misconduct, including that influential people and bank shareholders transferred money abroad during the crisis at a time when most people were unable to do so.

Last year, parliament amended strict banking secrecy regulations to allow more access for authorities including tax regulators and the judiciary. But bankers have said that the new law does not allow them to provide data that predates it.



Olmert: ‘Humanitarian City’ in Rafah Would Be Concentration Camp for Palestinians

Former Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert looks on during an interview with AFP (Agence France-Presse) in Paris on June 9, 2025. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
Former Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert looks on during an interview with AFP (Agence France-Presse) in Paris on June 9, 2025. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
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Olmert: ‘Humanitarian City’ in Rafah Would Be Concentration Camp for Palestinians

Former Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert looks on during an interview with AFP (Agence France-Presse) in Paris on June 9, 2025. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
Former Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert looks on during an interview with AFP (Agence France-Presse) in Paris on June 9, 2025. (Photo by STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)

Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert said that the “humanitarian city” that Israel’s defense minister has proposed building on the ruins of Rafah would be a concentration camp, and forcing Palestinians inside would be ethnic cleansing, the Guardian reported on Sunday.

Israel was already committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, Olmert told the daily, and construction of the camp would mark an escalation.

Israeli Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, has ordered the military to start drawing up operational plans for construction of the “humanitarian city” on the ruins of southern Gaza, to house initially 600,000 people and eventually the entire Palestinian population, stated the Guardian.

“It is a concentration camp. I am sorry,” Olmert told he daily, when asked about the plans laid out by Katz last week. Once inside, Palestinians would not be allowed to leave, except to go to other countries, Katz said.

The “humanitarian city” project is backed by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israel’s refusal to withdraw from the area Katz envisages for the camp is a sticking point in the faltering negotiations for a ceasefire deal, Israeli media have reported.