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.”

Kitami added that this step is a chance for the Palestinian government to reduce unemployment and stems out of the need to open up new labor markets because the Palestinian labor market cannot accommodate large numbers of graduates, workers and professionals.

“Qatar has granted us 20,000 different jobs in accordance with Qatar’s needs in various fields and disciplines, which will reduce unemployment and poverty and the deteriorating economic conditions, particularly in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, this step will fulfill the needs of the Qatari market with the Palestinian labor force and would benefit both Qatar and Palestine,” he said.