Palestinian government employees loyal to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas stood in long lines outside banks in Hamas-ruled Gaza on Wednesday to collect their first full salaries in 15 months. The salary payments to workers in Gaza and the West Bank were a boost to Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas, which took control of Gaza by force last month. Abbas has since fired the Hamas-led government and said civil servants who sided with the Islamic militants will not be paid.
Since Hamas won Palestinian elections in March, 2006, the Palestinian government's 165,000 government employees, half of them members of security forces, received only sporadic and partial payments because of an international aid boycott on the militants.