Recent reductions in salaries of PA employees in Gaza resulted in widespread protests across the Gaza Strip.
The “main requirement of national unity is keeping job security and social justice away from useless political disputes,” the Safa news agency reported Hamas saying.
In a statement, Hamas expressed its “surprise” that the meeting of the Fatah Central Committee did not discuss the salary cuts for Palestinian Authority (PA) employees in the Gaza Strip.
Israel began today a *week-long* closure of the Occupied West Bank & Gaza Strip for Passover (applies only to Palestinians, not settlers).
— Ben White (@benabyad) April 10, 2017
Meanwhile, Hamas expressed its full support and solidarity with the affected employees and accused the government in Ramallah, led by Rami Hamdallah, of creating the crisis.
Based on feelings of national responsibility, we announced that we are prepared to work with all the Palestinians, including political factions and NGOs to make Hamdallah’s government live up to its responsibility for its employees in Gaza and to fully implement all agreements that guarantee equality between people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Authority employees in the besieged Gaza Strip were shocked to find their March salaries had been slashed by at least 30 percent.
Palestinians fear return of power crisis in Gaza https://t.co/gqLRMOQcKR pic.twitter.com/Wl60Rasrbh
— The IMEU (@theIMEU) April 10, 2017
Thousands of employees took to the streets and public squares in Gaza in protest.
The government claimed that it is facing a severe financial crisis and imposed cuts on the salaries of its employees as a result.
However, Fatah officials in Gaza, rights groups and Palestinian factions refuted this claim because the cuts did not affect PA employees in the occupied West Bank.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
