RAMALLAH, May 28, 2012 (WAFA) – A special presidential committee set up to look into the legal status of the Union of Public Employees Monday said the union was not legal because it was not officially registered.

Hasan al-Ouri, legal advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas, told WAFA that the committee has found out that the employees union was established without any legal base because it was not established by any special law and it was not registered at the Ministry of Justice.

He said the union was registered only at the Ministry of Interior as a charity organization under the name Association of Government Employees and which was dismantled by the minister of interior in March 2011.

He said there was no legal ground for the union of public employees or any branch. The committee, as a result, decided that the union exists in practice only and that it was recognized through its work on the ground. This means the Palestinian Authority can only deal with it through legal means, he said.

President Abbas has endorsed the recommendation of the committee.

M.S.