Don't Worry About the Salaries

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Once again, the problem of salaries rears its head, and it will keep doing so. Since the establishment of the Authority until now, employees have been asking about their salaries and the dates they will be paid, and their questions will continue to hang over their heads.

I told the employees several months ago, a statement I have repeated over the years, that salaries would be paid, and that the circumstances for their final cessation had not yet arrived. And now I tell them that salaries will be paid because the conditions requiring their payment still hold, so be a little patient.

And I say even to those who take out loans from banks that their worry, too, is unwarranted, because the United States and the Western bloc have decided to set up a special fund to guarantee Palestinians’ loans to the banks operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, called the Loan Guarantee Fund (LGF). The Western bloc, which calls itself the international community, has guaranteed the repayment of loans to the banks, while still requiring that loan-holders continue to be pursued for repayment — so that the banks can keep on lending excessively and entangling the Palestinians financially and economically.

The important thing regarding salaries — I repeat what I have told people for years, and repeatedly: these salaries are the price of the homeland, the Palestinian homeland, and they are paid out not as charity, but as a political price. It is true that the tax revenues collected by the Authority cover part of the salaries, but if the Authority did not receive Western financial aid, and if Israel did not remit the customs and tax revenues, the smooth flow of payment would be put at risk. That is, the Authority cannot carry out this task unless the Western states and Israel come to its rescue. The people of the West and Israel have encouraged excessive, sweeping over-employment within the Authority, in order to tighten the rope around our necks whenever they see fit.

The payment of salaries is a Western commitment, so long as the Authority that calls itself the Palestinian National Authority remains committed to two things: continuing to run the daily life of the Palestinian people in the territory occupied in ‘67, and continuing to serve Israeli security through security coordination. These have been Israel’s two conditions since 1968 for any Arab or Palestinian party wishing to take the reins of self-rule in the territory occupied in ‘67. This is why we saw the Western states and Israel withdraw their hands from financial support when Hamas won the elections, having decided to continue administering the civil affairs of the people, but without security coordination.

…support from several Western states. Yes, the Authority has relieved Israel of many burdens, has flooded the territory occupied in ‘67 with corruption, corrupting influence, and feuds, and provides security services by pursuing those called Palestinian “terrorists” from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs, and everyone who so much as thinks about acts of resistance.

And here some people ask why salaries stop for short periods, many times over. There are several reasons for this, including:

Some party carrying out an action against the settlers or Zionist soldiers, without the Authority being able to pursue and arrest them, even for a time. This is a kind of pressure on the Authority to exert more security effort in pursuing what is called Palestinian terrorism, and it also serves as a warning to salary-holders that they too must stand against terrorism, and in favor of pursuing it and apprehending its perpetrators.

Reminding the people in the territory occupied in ‘67 that they must kneel and submit if they want salaries to continue. And that they must cling to slogans such as: bread comes before freedom; no to hunger, yes to kneeling; humiliation rather than death.

Sometimes, to confirm that the presence of a particular person within the Authority is necessary in order to obtain the funds — otherwise the West will cut off the money, and so will Israel.

To confirm that getting rid of a particular person will lead to the return of the funds once again.

When is the money cut off? Simply put, the money will be cut off in two cases:

If the Authority stops security coordination;

If the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza collapse, with each of them turning to focus solely on his own personal interests, abandoning the national rights of the Palestinian people.

And since the security need for the Authority still stands, and most people in the West Bank and Gaza are still alive in national terms, cutting off salaries is not on the table right now. So do not worry.

But if you want to stop worrying altogether, we must develop our economic, social, security, and political conditions in a way that leads to self-reliance and frees us from the yoke of others. This is not impossible, and it is not difficult, but it requires some patience and a free Palestinian political will.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “لا تقلقوا على الرواتب” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.