Palestinian ministers discuss economic issues

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Palestinian ministers discuss economic issues

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Palestine is struggling to save its economy.

11 September,2012 01:27 pm

Palestinian ministers met on Tuesday to discuss ways of easing economic hardships, which have provoked growing protests across the West Bank, challenging the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.The demonstrations turned violent in the cities of Hebron and Nablus on Monday as thousands of angry youths burned tyres, blocked streets and hurled stones at armed police, raising pressure on Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.The protests are being eyed with growing concern by Israel, which fears the frustration against Palestinian leadership could snowball into a third, general uprising against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.Out of cash and bound by economic accords that peg its sales tax to steep Israeli rates, the Palestinian Authority is struggling to salvage its legitimacy in the eyes of the public. If the government doesnt come out with serious, concrete solutions, the protests will go on and become bigger, said Wasel Abu Yousef, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organizations executive committee.Government employees, many of whom will receive only part of their August salaries because of the cash crisis, staged a partial strike on Tuesday and promised to picket the cabinet meeting in the de facto capital of Ramallah. The meeting was due to end at around 1 p.m. (1000 GMT)Public transport and taxi workers went on strike on Monday, leaving the West Banks streets unusually quiet. The scenes in Hebron, in which crowds pelted a giant poster of Fayyad with a rain of shoes and attacked a government building and police station, were unprecedented, locals said.Palestinians have mostly saved their outrage for Israel, which has occupied the West Bank for 45 years, and even some of the protesters were surprised by the intensity of the violence.