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Qatar opens doors to help Palestinians escape 'painful reality' of Gaza

Qatar and Palestine have been working together to bring a larger number of Palestinians to work in Qatar, where the market is in need of skilled labor.
A view shows the Qatar Petroleum headquarters, which is under construction, in Doha April 8, 2013. Bankers and politicians touting their countries' wares have to work hard to get the attention of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, such is the range of its interests, from banks to cars to soccer clubs, and its exacting requirement for returns. With estimated assets of about $200 billion, and more than a dozen potential deals on its radar every week, the state-run firm has no time for less than compelling investm

The Palestinian Ministry of Labor announced June 27 that Qatar has finalized procedures to bring Palestinian workers to Doha, in accordance with Qatari labor law, whereby Palestinians will be able to obtain entry visas and residency permits and have the right to work.

Nasser Kitami, undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Labor, told Al-Monitor that his government “announced in early 2015 that it started receiving Palestinian applications for work in Qatar. Applicants have to fill personal data and provide some information about their professional experience in order to submit to Qatar, and [the Palestinian ministry has] received more than 58,000 applications from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as of the deadline at the end of June 2015.”

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