Reuters correspondent Nidal al-Mughrabi
reports that Hamas has failed to meet January payroll for its 34,000 Palestinian employees:
A senior official at the Hamas-run Finance Ministry blamed the delay on new "technical procedures" under which cash is distributed at post offices and the newly established Palestinian Islamic National Bank.
Perhaps a peek at the
Gaza property records might shed some additional light on the problem:
The report, in the independent Kafiyeh network, claims that Hamas Gaza kingpin Ismail Haniyeh has bought property worth $4 million in Gaza and apparently intends to build there. The purchase is reportedly registered in the name of one of his sons. Haniyeh has reportedly purchased real estate for his family members as well, including an apartment for his wife.
"Technical procedures".
how did these guys get the media to go along with them like this? maybe that is another place potential money is going?
ReplyDeleteReuters bias in their Middle East reporting is easily documented. The reason(s) behind the bias is less clear. It may be, as we noted here: http://r-mew.blogspot.com/2009/12/palestinian-arabs-hysterical-about.html, due to an official company position that Israel is occupying "Palestinian lands" and that therefore, anything the Palestinians do under the guise of "liberating" the territories is acceptable and to be reported in a favorable light. Only correspondents who follow this line will be hired and/or retained.
ReplyDeleteIt may simply be a form of groupthink where the views of correspondents are shaped by their proximity to colleagues who are anti-Israel and/or years spent in countries where Jewish nationalism is regularly assailed, e.g., Britain.
Or it may be as you suggest, a matter of venality. We do know that Thomson Reuters has significant business interests in the Arab world; this may well have an impact at the highest levels of editorial policy. Ultimately, it is up to senior managers like David Schlesinger and Dean Wright to monitor and enforce a policy of neutral reporting -- a duty they are failing.