Salam Fayyad biggest winner from Gaza unrest

The street fighting in Gaza has led to new calls for reforms identified with PA Minister of Finance Dr. Salam Fayyad.

The street fighting in Gaza has led to new calls for combating corruption and carrying out reforms in the Palestinian Authority (PA). In the short term at least, the riots have strengthened the public standing of PA Minister of Finance Dr. Salam Fayyad, known as a crusader against corruption.

Palestinian sources say that Palestinian security men have begun saluting Fayyad in recent months, showing their appreciation for his halting the theft of their salaries by senior officers.

A reform of the payments of salaries to security men was completed two months ago. Prior to the reform, the 55,000 security men were paid in cash by their commanders and unit treasurers, making the men directly dependent on their field commanders, and making theft and corruption possible. Senior commanders diverted a large proportion of their men's pay into their own pockets.

The heads of the Palestinian security organizations, seeking to preserve the status quo, strongly opposed the salary reform, under which salaries were paid directly into the men's bank accounts. Ultimately, heavy pressure from the international community forced PA chairman Yasser Arafat to implement the reform. Policemen discovered that their salaries immediately soared, and they received their full salaries of NIS 1,500 for the first time.

Fayyad has accumulated many enemies in his effort to eliminate corruption, especially among top PA officials and Arafat's entourage who live well from the corruption and want to block all reform.

A crisis erupted two weeks ago when Fayyad refused to transfer funds to the organization that handles Palestinian prisoners in Israel not included in the budget approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council, but authorized by handwritten notes from Arafat.

The fuel, cement and tobacco monopolies, previously controlled by senior PA officials and their associates, were also a source of popular anger. Fayyad's reforms a year ago in the fuel sector and the cancellation of mediation fees collected by the PA caused fuel prices to plummet and ended smuggling.

Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on July 19, 2004

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