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Will Gaza’s public employees accept land in lieu of salaries?

Hamas resorted to drastic measures to cater to the employee salary crisis, as the consensus government has been neglecting this issue since it was formed in 2014.
Palestinian Hamas-hired civil servants wait to receive payment at a post office in Gaza City October 29, 2014. Some 24,000 civil servants hired by the Islamist group Hamas, many of whom have not received a full salary in almost a year, finally got some pay on Wednesday from the new Palestinian unity government based in the West Bank. The funds were supplied by the gas-rich kingdom of Qatar, which is an ally of Hamas. But the fact the cash was delivered by the West Bank administration gave a boost to hopes t

Hamas dropped a figurative bomb on Gaza when it announced Nov. 21 that public employees who had not received salaries in months will be paid with acres of land.

Ziad al-Zaza, a member of the Hamas Political Bureau and a former deputy prime minister, said in coming weeks, employees will receive their entitlements through land distribution. Zaza estimated that the parcels will range from 965 to 1,200 dunums (about 238 to 296 acres) in the north and south of the Gaza Strip. In addition, municipality and electricity debts will be reset as part of a plan to resolve the crisis of salaries and entitlements.

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