RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Ramallah-based Palestinian government decided Sept. 9 to assign ministries the task of updating the data of their civil servants in the Gaza Strip in order to address all issues related to their unpaid salaries. 

The decision follows the pledge of Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh who vowed Sept. 4 in a video message on Facebook addressed to the Gaza employees to conduct a review of all staff conditions and implement workable solutions. “The government inherited the financial problems in Gaza. These problems are not something new,” Shtayyeh said.

“The current [Palestinian] government and previous governments did not control or manage the coastal enclave. It is inconceivable to run the sector remotely. There is no accurate and detailed information about the employees, whether with regard to their sick leaves, their whereabouts, who is traveling or who is not, who deserves a bonus, who changed their work or area, among other things,” he added.

The government made its decision after it came under a storm of criticism and accusations when it disbursed the salaries of public employees Sept. 1 in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The government was accused by several factions, including Fatah, of discriminating between public servants in Gaza and the West Bank in terms of salary disbursement, which contradicts Shtayyeh’s pledge Aug. 22 to pay all civil servants on an equal footing.