http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/19991210/tc/yk_palestinians_1.html

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), December 12, 1999

Answers

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

Friday December 10 12:35 PM ET

Palestinians Push for Y2K Bug Prevention Funds

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority urged international donor countries to provide it with more than $2 million needed to prevent Y2K problems, a Palestinian official said Friday.

``I have urged the donors in a meeting in Gaza Thursday to help us and I warned them of the dangers that might result if the money ($2.5 million) was not granted in the next two weeks,'' Nabil Shaath, Palestinian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, told Reuters.

Shaath, who heads the Palestinian Authority's committee for handling Y2K problems, said he expected no hitches in the telecommunications system, which was modified jointly with Israel.

He said the Palestinians and Israelis were also working to ensure a problem-free flow of electricity, but that some necessary equipment had yet to be purchased.

The Palestinians have asked Israel for assurances that any Y2K problems would not hinder the supply of electricity, especially to Bethlehem, which is hosting the Palestinian Authority's millennium celebrations.

Israel withdrew from most of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank in 1994 after signing a peace accord with the Palestinians.

But Palestinian-ruled areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip still depend on Israel for 98 percent of their electricity.

Shaath said most banks operating in Palestinian areas were already Y2K compliant.

``The real computer problems we have been trying to solve were in municipal sectors: water, health and transportation,'' he said.

The World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have already given the Palestinian Authority $800,000 aimed at retooling government computer systems.

Ghassan Qadah, Shaath's senior technology adviser, said the World Bank agreed to fund the modification of computers in the 17 largest municipalities in Gaza and the West Bank before Jan. 1.

``We will not have a national crisis, though there certainly will be some disturbances,'' Qadah told Reuters.

More than $1 million are still needed to adapt vital health system equipment, he said.

Qadah said the most severe problems could still be prevented if donors accelerated the transfer of funds.

If they prove hesitant, Shaath said the Palestinian Authority would have to come up with the money itself to avoid the most critical problems.

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), December 12, 1999.

uh just a little late

-- fix in 2 weeks (really@impossible.odds), December 12, 1999.

With less than 3 weeks to go, how much of that 2.5 million do y'all think would actually be going for 7.62x39 ammo, as well as gasoline, empty bottles, and strips of cloth? Just a thought....

-- (cavscout@fix.net), December 12, 1999.

What I'd like to know is what Nabil Shaath had in mind when he said, "...I warned them of the dangers that might result if the money ($2.5 million) was not granted in the next two weeks..." Sounds like a threat to me, pardner.

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), December 12, 1999.

Let's see, the want the money in less than 2 weeks, with three weeks remaining. That's about 5 days for remediation, a full day for testing, and a holy day...

or about a week to get the money to Switzerland...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), December 12, 1999.

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-- n (a@s.m), December 12, 1999.