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Abbas blasts Palestinian trade unions for striking amid coronavirus crisis

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas: “Seeing Palestinian girls beat up Israeli policeman and soldiers fills my heart with joy; that is what our peaceful protests should look like.”

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech on the new Middle East peace plan at P.A. headquarters in Ramallah, Jan. 28, 2020. Photo by Flash90.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas delivers a speech on the new Middle East peace plan at P.A. headquarters in Ramallah, Jan. 28, 2020. Photo by Flash90.

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas last week criticized Palestinian trade unions, among them the doctors’ union, for demanding an increased salary and declaring a strike.

This was not the time to strike, he said, considering the challenges that the Palestinians are facing from coronavirus, the U.S. “Peace to Prosperity” plan and what he called Israel’s financial siege against the P.A.

In a March 1 address that aired on Palestine TV, Abbas went on to praise recent protests in Hebron, Jerusalem and Nablus, saying: “The [women] should be in front at the protests ... Seeing the girls beating up a policeman or a soldier really fills my heart with joy. This is how we want our peaceful popular resistance to be. This is our way to vanquish our enemies.”

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