PA daily: Palestinian MPs “who have not been working for 8 years, receive monthly salaries of 3,000 dollars”

“Over two years ago, the government, the private sector, and the unions engaged in a comprehensive discussion of minimum wage in Palestine. As a result of these discussions, which lasted several months, and after severe birth pains, an agreement was reached setting minimum wage at 1,450 shekels (approximately 364 dollars)… This is not the place to make inappropriate comparisons with Israel, where minimum wage is 4,300 shekels (approximately 1,079 dollars). In brief, Israelis receive salaries 15 times higher than the helpless Palestinian citizens, although prices on both sides are the same. Nonetheless, we believe the government must act in two directions: First, to force the private sector to commit itself to what it signed two years ago… and second, to act to ratify the maximum wage law, after a report on the issue has been prepared. It is true that rare skills and talent deserve recognition, but can it be that senior officials in private sector institutions receive salaries of 25,000 dollars? How can it be that experts who do not benefit us minimally receive thousands of dollars under the heading of ‘assistance to the Palestinian people?’ Even worse, how can it be that members of parliament who have not been working for 8 years, receive monthly salaries of 3,000 dollars for sitting in an office, while a nurse working long hours without a contract receives less than 600 shekels (approximately 150 dollars) a month?”