PNA to lay off Palestinians working in Jewish settlements by end of 2011

RAMALLAH, April 21 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian National Authority (PNA) official revealed on Wednesday that the authority plans to lay off all the Palestinians working in the construction of the West Bank's Jewish settlements by the end of 2011.

Ahmed Majdalani, the PNA Labor Minister, said, in a statement published by state-run Wafa news agency, by the end of 2011, there will be no single Palestinian worker works in Israeli settlements.

"The decision is part of the Palestinian campaign to boycott the Jewish settlements and its products," said Majdalani, adding " the campaign has given quick fruitful results."

He went on saying that "following the decision of boycotting the settlements' products, the number of laborers working in the settlements declined to 7,000 only."

"The drop in the number of (Palestinian) workers in the settlements is due to the withdrawal of Israeli investments in the settlements," said the PNA official, adding "many settlements' workers are now working in the Palestinian industry instead."

Several months ago, the PNA launched a campaign of boycotting the Israeli settlements products, collecting huge amounts of products from the shops and the grocery stores and burning them.

Majdalani revealed that his ministry is working on establishing "The Fund of National Dignity," a body which would be devoted to create job opportunities in coordination with the ministry of economy.