US: Donors not interested in paying PA gov't wages
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A senior US government official said Wednesday that an international donors plan to channel emergency aid to the Palestinians would not include money to pay employees of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
Neither Washington nor the European Union, Russia and the United Nations was interested in paying salaries of tens of thousands of Palestinian government workers, said Scott Carpenter, deputy US assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs.
The workers have not received pay for three months due to international economic sanctions imposed after Hamas took power.
"I don't think anyone at this stage in the Quartet (of Mideast mediators) is talking about wages, so no one is talking about providing direct wages to any one in the Palestinian Authority," Carpenter said after talks with EU officials.
He said the EU would put forward detailed proposals in three or four weeks, on how donors can give aid to the Palestinians.