Hamas-linked civil servants to get no pay

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The West Bank-based Palestinian government promised Monday to pay full salaries to tens of thousands of civil servants but warned that employees cooperating with the Islamic militant Hamas would not be on the payroll.

The payments have become the latest test in the struggle for legitimacy between the moderate West Bank-based government and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip. The territories have been split since Hamas seized Gaza by force last month.

The first full salary payments in more than a year were made possible by the renewal of Western aid and Israeli tax transfers — a bid to bolster moderate President Mahmoud Abbas in his struggle with Hamas.

In Gaza, mosque preachers struck back with a religious decree declaring government workers who accepted the payments under such conditions would violate the rules of Islam.

The money gives considerable leverage to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who was appointed by Abbas last month to head a new Palestinian government that excludes Hamas. Hamas has not said how it will provide for Gaza's 1.4 million residents.

During 13 months of Hamas rule, the 165,000 government employees, half of them members of security forces, only received sporadic, partial payments because of an international aid boycott.

Many public sector workers, whose salaries provide for one-fourth of Palestinians, were driven into debt or forced to take on second jobs to survive.

Wael Afaneh, an Education Ministry employee who sold vegetables in the West Bank city of Ramallah for most of the past year to feed his six children, said he planned to return to his white-collar job. He said he was optimistic about the future and backed the Fayyad government.

"Hopefully, they will improve the economic situation," said Afaneh, 36.

Fayyad's information minister, Riyad Malki, promised full salaries for at least six months, but also warned that those cooperating with Hamas in Gaza would not be paid. Government officials estimated that 19,000 employees would not receive money, including about 12,000 hired by Hamas in the past year.

Fayyad's government has told all members of the security forces in Gaza to stay home and refuse to take orders from Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister fired by Abbas after the Gaza takeover.