Report: Abbas to close banks in Gaza, cut off all salaries

I don't know how reliable this report is, but Al Akhbar in Lebanon is reporting that PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas is drawing up plans to severely punish all Gazans if the current negotiations in Egypt with Hamas prove fruitless.

The newspaper quoted "informed political sources" that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has instructed his government to prepare a "full vision on stopping the financing of Gaza."

This would include stopping salaries of employees in ministries of social affairs, health and education.

According to the newspaper, the sanctions would also include stopping the work of the Monetary Authority in Gaza, which means the closure of all banks in the sector, which will paralyze all commercial activities and affect the ability to pay for any imports.

"There are other steps that the PA is preparing to implement, including stopping the transfer of social welfare services serving more than 80,000 families from Gaza, freezing medical transfers for patients, cutting off medicines and supplies for the health sector, cutting off electricity in Gaza" according to the report.

The head of the delegation of  Fatah to Cairo, Azzam al-Ahmad, told Egyptian officials of the intention of Abbas to impose these new sanctions if the truce agreement fails.

Ahmad has told the media that Fatah will respond to the Egyptian reconciliation plan sometime today.

Previous sanctions on Gaza by Abbas have been met with a big yawn from the international community and from virtually all supposed pro-Palestinian "activists" - except for the ones aligned with Hamas to begin with.

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