Kadafi Says Libya Will Pay Salaries of Palestinians
Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi said his country will pay the salaries of 21,200 Palestinians formerly employed by Jordan in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Radio Monte Carlo reported today.
Libya “announces through your radio station that it will take the responsibility of paying the salaries,” Kadafi told the radio’s Paris-based Arabic service. In the telephone interview, the Libyan leader estimated the cost at about $1 million a month.
In Israel, a Foreign Ministry official said: “We do not have a reaction to this. We have no dialogue with Libya.” Asked whether Israel would allow any other Arab country to send money into the territories, he said: “That’s very hypothetical.”
Jordan’s King Hussein announced last week that he was handing over responsibility for paying the workers to the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
