Hamas: Out of Money; A new cabinet starts out in the hole.

Byline: Kevin Peraino

If you think you have a lousy job, meet Omar Abdel-Razeq. Last week the soft-spoken economist was named as Hamas's choice to be the Palestinian Authority's next Finance minister. The 48-year-old professor happened to be in an Israeli jail when his Islamist colleagues won an absolute majority in the Palestinian Parliament two months ago. And as he sat in his cell, Abdel-Razeq recalls, he found himself hoping he might stay there until after Hamas had finished forming its cabinet.

No such luck. Released a week ago, Abdel-Razeq says he hasn't yet had time to sift through the World Bank's dire projections for 2006, warning of an economic downturn equivalent to the Great Depression. "I just got out of prison," he protests. Even before Hamas's election upset, the Palestinian Authority was hemorrhaging money; Israel has since announced it would withhold an additional $55 million a month in Palestinian customs receipts. With Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima Party far ahead in the polls, this week's Israeli elections seem likely to buoy proponents of further disengagement. "We are all aware of the difficulties we are getting into," Abdel-Razeq says with a sigh.

Born in the northern West Bank village of Salfit, Abdel-Razeq spent his college years in the United States, where he studied math, economics and computer science at Iowa universities. In the 1980s he took a post at An-Najah University in Nablus, and was later introduced to Islamists from Hamas--as well as to respected liberal economic reformers such ...