RAMALLAH, May 9, 2011 (WAFA) – Palestinian public employees Monday expressed deep concern over losses they might suffer when checks they wrote out may not get paid on time because they have not yet been paid.

A letter from the employees’ union representative, Bassam Zakarneh, to the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA) asking it to intervene with the banks to stop possible charges for returned checks expressed this concern.

In the letter, Zakarneh called on the PMA to ask the banks not to return checks and to hold them until the employees get paid.

The government, which normally pays employees the first week of every month after Israel transfers to it about $100 million in tax and customs revenues it collects on its behalf, has not yet been able to pay the April salaries after Israel decided not to make the transfer this month in protest over the signing of the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas.

Zakarneh held the Palestinian government responsible for the delay because “it did not have a contingency plan to face a minor crisis such as this one.” He said the government should bear responsibility for the delay, adding that there is still no fixed date for paying salaries.

The PMA responded to Zakarneh’s letter Monday saying that it had told the banks not to charge fines for unpaid checks considering that the employees have not been paid yet.

M.A.