RAMALLAH, Saturday, January 19, 2019 (WAFA) - The Palestinian government decided on Saturday to set up a ministerial committee to look into statements by Minister of Local Government, Hussein al-Araj, regarding the leaders of the anti-social security protests.

Government spokesman Yusuf al-Mahmoud said in a statement that Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah decided to immediately form a ministerial commission of inquiry to investigate the reasons for Araj statements and the subsequent reactions.

He said the results of this inquiry, which is expected to be done within a short time, and its recommendations will be submitted to President Mahmoud Abbas.

The remarks by Araj seem to have insulted the anti-social security movement in the city of Hebron, in the south of the West Bank, who strongly protested his remarks in which he accused some workers’ leaders of the anti-social security movement of being agents for Israel and live in the illegal Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron.

The government spokesman said that “all the Palestinian people and their leadership emphasize that the governorate of Hebron, such as the other governorates in the country, receives constant government attention and the government is constantly developing its services there.”

He said that the Government stresses that “the workers are an essential part of the fabric of our society and our national struggle for independence and nation-building.”

Fatah movement in Hebron was the first to speak out against the remarks by Araj and demand the formation of an investigative committee to look into the remarks while calling for his dismissal from office.

It called for boycotting the minister in any activity for his ministry in Hebron, declaring him a persona non grata.

M.K.