Hamas lawmakers approve budget for deposed Gaza gov't

GAZA, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Hamas lawmakers have approved a budget for the deposed Hamas government which rules the Gaza Strip, officials said on Sunday.

The new budget is 540 million U.S. dollars, bigger than the 428million dollars proposed in a financial report that Hamas' budget committee in the parliament drafted in October.

All Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) attended an undisclosed session on Saturday and approved the budget, according to the officials.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, the second largest bloc in the PLC, doesn't recognize the parliamentary sessions Hamas has held in Gaza since it routed pro-Abbas forces and seized the coastal strip by force in June 2007.

Lawmaker Jamal Nassar, chief of the budget committee in the PLC, said the financial plan covers the year 2010 in the Gaza Strip and focuses on economic and social matters.

"The health and education ministries have a great share in the budget which was approved by most of the (Hamas) lawmakers," Nassar added.

Hamas has 34,200 security and civil servants taking about 17.5 million dollars in salaries and monthly wages.

The budget doesn't take into consideration the West Bank which is ruled by a Western-backed government.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/03/content_12749172.htm.