Palestinian civil servants to begin receiving EU funded-salaries from Sunday

12 July 2007

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The Palestinian minister of social affairs in the emergency government, Dr Mahmoud Al-Habbash, has announced that the funds provided by the European Union for the salaries of some 77,000 civil servants will begin to arrive into the beneficiaries' bank accounts on Sunday 16 July.

The funds, which are being channeled to the Palestinian people through the Temporary International Mechanism set up by the EU and the World Bank in June 2006, will continue being transferred till 9 August, Habbash said.

He added that the payment will take place through the banks accredited by the EU. He explained that all beneficiaries must collect the forms necessary for receipt of the funds in the banks, take them to the social affairs ministry offices in the West Bank and Gaza in order to be filled in, and then take them back to the banks.

He also declared that each beneficiary family would receive only NIS 1000.

At the beginning of July the European Commission announced that it would be disbursing 21 million euros (~$28.6m) in financial support to Palestinian civil servants and pensioners in the first week of July. According to the report at the time, more than 77,000 beneficiaries would receive NIS 1,500 (~$358) directly into their bank accounts, in coordination with the Palestinian ministry of finance.