Palestinian gov’t freezes social security law

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Palestinian government on Tuesday postponed the application of a controversial social security law that has triggered mass protests in the Palestinian territories.

“The law application will be postponed for six months to give room for more discussions about amending the legislation,” Labour Minister Mamoun Abu Shahla said in statements cited by the official Wafa news agency.

The move came one day after thousands of Palestinians staged a sit-in outside the government headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah to protest the law, which came into force earlier this month.

The law calls for deducting 7.2 percent of private-sector employees’ monthly salaries for a social-security fund (which employers would also be expected to pay into) and setting the national retirement age -- for both men and women -- at 60 years.

“There will be no fines on companies or institutions that do not register during the dialogue period,” Abu Shahla said.

“All amendments to the law will be submitted to President [Mahmoud] Abbas for approval to make sure the law becomes acceptable to all parties,” he added.

The law was not approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council (parliament), which has remained largely non-functional since 2007 due to fundamental political differences between Hamas (which runs the Gaza Strip) and Fatah (which controls the West Bank-based Palestinian government).