GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas is rejecting the Palestinian Authority's 2018 public budget, which President Mahmoud Abbas approved this month. Some legislators believe the budget is illegal.
The budget was submitted to the government of national consensus and ratified Feb. 27, without being presented to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) as required by law. The government merely presented the budget to a number of parliamentary bloc members, prompting PLC First Deputy Speaker Ahmed Bahar to denounce the process and assert that the budget is illegitimate. In a Feb. 28 news conference, he also called for the government to resign.