Newly-married couples have donated their dower of gold and jewels to prime minister Ismail Haneya to show support for the cash-strapped Hamas-led government which defied Western pressure to recognize Israel.

Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters took to the Gaza streets over the weekend with one voice "hunger yes, kneeling no."

Hamas said the United States, which led an international campaign to isolate Hamas, was to blame for its failure to pay wages to the government employees for two months.

"American administration is the problem," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

He accused Washington of committing crime by threatening local banks with sanctions in case they transferred money from Islamic and Arab states to Hamas government.

Unlike Hamas loyalists, other Palestinians, especially the 160, 000 unpaid employees, complained of their suffering.

Mohammed Mustafa, a 24-year-old officer in the national security forces, believed that the Hamas government was accountable for the financial crisis.

"They have to adopt a sensible position," said Mohammed who sustains a family of four as well as his wife and a two-year-old baby.

Mohammed said he got warnings for delay in paying up debts. "I' m pursued by storekeepers and banks because of owed debts."

Despite Hamas call for patience and promise, the unpaid servants can't endure much longer.

"We can't bear giving more time to the government, there is no space to speak about patience, our life and children's future is not a subject to play," complained a 44-year-old employee, identified himself as Moain.

While acknowledging the bitter fact of unemployment, Ahmed, who works in the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, threatened to abandon his governmental job.

A new survey carried out by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistic on the eve of May Day showed that unemployment rate in the West Bank and Gaza Strip exceeded 50 percent.

Thousands of Palestinian workers were blocked from entering Israel as all border crossings between Gaza and Israel were closed for security reasons.

Israel has stopped transferring monthly tax payment to the Palestinian government since Hamas, seen as a terror group by Israel, won the Jan. 25 parliamentary elections.

Moreover, the U.S. and the European Union have suspended financial aid to the Palestinian government since Hamas took office on March 29 because the radical movement failed to meet their demand to renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements.

The empty-handed Haneya has promised to give his first salary to a family whose nine-year-old daughter was killed and their house destroyed in a recent Israeli shelling in Gaza.

"The government managed to collect enough money to pay the salaries of the previous two months," said Haneya. However, even he himself can't answer how long the families would keep waiting.

Source: Xinhua