Gazans Protest Against ‘Massacre of Salaries’ by the Palestinian Authority · Global Voices
Screengrab of a protest in Gaza against the PA's salary cuts. Source: Pal+ عربي
Earlier this month, large demonstrations erupted in the Gaza Strip to protest a decision by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to cut the salaries of its public and security employees in Gaza.
The PA, a donor-dependent semi-governmental body that governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank, have slashed the salaries of its employees in Gaza by 30 to 70 percent under the pretext of a financial crisis caused by shrinking foreign aid.
Palestinians condemned the PA’s decision, describing it as a “massacre of salaries”. On social media, the Arabic hashtag for ‘massacre of salaries’ was used as well as “<PERSON> robbed us”, referring to the president of the PA, <PERSON>.
للصورة أن تتكلم#عباس_سرقنا#مجزرة_الرواتب pic.twitter.com/bSWwO97xoF
— علي ريان | غزة (@alirayyyan) April 5, 2017
The photo speaks for itself. #Abbas_Robbed_Us #MassacreOfSalaries
On April 8, 2017, tens of thousands of Palestinians demonstrated in Gaza City against the salary cuts. Protesters chanted for the PA’s Prime Minister <PERSON> to “go away” and called for the Finance Minister <PERSON> to resign.
طالبوا بإقالة رئيس الحكومة رامي الحمد الله .. اعتصام لموظفي السلطة الفلسطينية في قطاع غزة، رفضاً لخصم الحكومة 30% من رواتبهم.#مجزرة_الرواتب pic.twitter.com/ED72e2JkeO
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) April 8, 2017
They called for head of government <PERSON> to resign… the protest of PA's employees in Gaza against the 30% cut of their salaries. 467
#MassacreOfSalaries
<PERSON> defended the PA’s salary cuts in a press conference, saying that it was necessary to “manage financial crises suffered by the Palestinian government due to reductions in international funds.”
He further blamed Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, for exacerbating the financial crisis, alleging that Hamas “keeps its income for itself, while the PA has spent more than 17 billion dollars in the Gaza Strip during the last 10 years.”
Palestinian civil society organizations in the West Bank organized a sit-in in front of the prime minister’s office in Ramallah. However, PA security forces closed all roads leading to the building in order to thwart the protests.
The PA employs around 56,000 people in Gaza. After Hamas took over control of the Strip in 2007, <PERSON> demanded public employees to abandon their jobs and sit at home while still getting paid their regular salaries. Those who ignored the call and continued their work under the government of Hamas received little to no salary at all.
The PA's discriminatory decision deepens the political chasm between Hamas and Fatah, the party that <PERSON> belongs to and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In 2006, Hamas won parliamentary elections which lead to a conflict between them and Fatah, with the latter ending up controlling the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas controlling Gaza.
Following Hamas’ electoral win, Israel launched a crackdown, arresting up to 450 members of the party and keeping them in administrative detention. Recently, Palestinian protesters demanded an end to security coordination between the PA and the Israeli government following the killing of well-known activist <PERSON> in Ramallah.
Hamas called the salary-cut a “new conspiracy” against Gaza. <PERSON>, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said that Hamas does not accept to be threatened and will not “kneel to political pressure. 467