The Minister of Local Government, Eng. Magdi Al-Saleh, discussed with the Executive Committee of the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities – APLA, headed by APLA’s president Eng. Musa Hadid a number of common issues, in addition to discussing the main challenges facing the local authorities and hindering their work.

The meeting was held at APLA’s headquarters in Ramallah in the presence of the President and members of the Executive Committee of the APLA, APLA’s Executive Director Abdallah Anati, and Assistant Undersecretary for Administrative Affairs Abdul Karim Seder, Assistant Undersecretary for Engineering Ahmed Ghoneim, and Director General of Legal Affairs in the Ministry Islam Abu Ziad.

In turn, Al-Saleh congratulated APLA for moving to its new permanent offices, and stressed on the role of the APLA as a key and effective partner of the ministry, and the complementary and participatory relationship between the ministry and APLA, referring to the role of local authorities in providing services to citizens on behalf of the central government.

Al-Saleh stressed the need to intensify direct meetings between the APLA and the Ministry in order to harness all possibilities to provide better services to the Palestinian citizen and to work on identifying interventions and activities necessary to develop the local government sector in Palestine.

 Al-Saleh stressed the ministry's rejection of any attacks or abuses on the mayors, members and employees of local councils. He said that the ministry will follow up with the security agencies to take legal action against the aggressors in order to provide security and safety for the local authorities and enable them to perform their roles.

 In turn, Mr. Hadid congratulated the Minister for his new position, stressing the importance of the mutual collaboration between the ministry and APLA in a parallel way to move forward in the development of the sector and the advancement of all components.

 He outlined the issues discussed during the meeting, beginning with the relationship with the central government regarding some pending subjects, such as income tax, the education tax, the law on the local authorities’ courts, and the attacks on heads of local councils.

 The President of the APLA demanded that the attacks be dealt with on the heads of the local bodies, which are being carried out in a serious manner, so that deterrent measures are taken for any behavior that could affect the prestige of the law and the municipal work systems and its role in building institutions that serve the citizen and protect his rights.