Publication
Omar Shaban Ismail · Al-Monitor · 2013
Al-Monitor 2013 analysis of PA employees in Gaza as a key reconciliation issue: their divided loyalty (paid by Ramallah, working under Hamas) and the two parallel civil service structures they represent must be addressed in any genuine reconciliation plan.
Al-Monitor 2013 analysis of PA employees in Gaza as a key reconciliation issue: their divided loyalty (paid by Ramallah, working under Hamas) and the two…
Editorial summary — the full article is published by Al-Monitor and cannot be reproduced here. What follows is an account of the subject written afterwards, not the original text.
Palestinian Authority employees in Gaza — civil servants who have continued to receive PA salaries since 2007 despite Hamas's takeover — occupy a unique and politically significant position. They are paid by Ramallah but work in a territory governed by Hamas, creating a divided loyalty that is both practically awkward and politically significant. Reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah would require resolving the status of these employees: would they be integrated into a unified civil service? Would PA employees be prioritized over Hamas-employed civil servants in a post-reconciliation administration? The salary structure itself has become a reconciliation issue: Hamas has used the continued payment of PA salaries to Hamas-governed Gaza as evidence that the PA accepts Hamas governance de facto, while the PA has used it to maintain a foothold of institutional presence in Gaza. Any genuine reconciliation process must include a clear plan for integrating the two civil service structures — PA employees and Hamas employees — which currently represent two parallel governance systems in a single territory.
Topic: National Reconciliation — PA employees · Gaza Politics · reconciliation — Text © Al-Monitor — archived here with attribution to the source. — Original source