PALESTINIAN REFUGEES PROTEST AT LABOR MINISTRY IN GAZA

Gaza, 14 Rabi’ul Akhir 1436/4 February 2015 (MINA) – Dozens of Palestinian refugees who settled in Gaza after fleeing conflict in Syria, Libya, and Yemen protested in front of the Palestinian Ministry of Labor on Tuesday, a committee member said.

The refugees demanded the ministry renew their unemployment contracts and grant them financial aid for the past six months, said Ahmad al-Imawi, the head of a joint committee for refugees.

Al-Imawi demanded in a statement that President Mahmoud Abbas work on renewing the refugees’ unemployment contracts as they entered a second month without jobs, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

He said the committee would continue to carry out protests until their demands were met.

Some 2,000 Palestinian refugees who were displaced due to conflicts in Libya, Yemen, and Syria settled in Gaza in 2014. But given the destruction caused by Israel’s deadly summer offensive on the tiny territory, some say they are now living in conditions that are worse than before they came to Strip.

Some 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their land in the 1948 Nakba, or catastrophe. Their descendants are estimated today to number 4.8 million people. Many of these refugees have been displaced several times in various conflicts with Israel and other Middle East violence. (T/P010/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)