GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Fatah and Hamas have agreed to allow 3,000 employees from the Palestinian Authority (PA) who were abstaining from work to return to their duties at the various ministries in Gaza. But this agreement has raised grave concerns among the employees, who fear losing the side work that has provided them additional streams of income over the past seven years.

Following Hamas’ military takeover of Gaza in June 2007, the PA ordered its employees in all government and security institutions of the Gaza Strip to completely stop work, but said they would continue receiving their salaries.

The decision allowed the employees to search for other sources of income that would complement their salaries, such as jobs in private factories or institutions, establishing commercial enterprises or working as taxi drivers, according to economist Mohamed Mekdad.

“Thousands of abstaining employees have additional jobs to supplement their income. Those people are concerned that Palestinian efforts to restore them to their government jobs would lead to the loss of their extra sources of income,” Mekdad told Al-Monitor.