The UAE is to offer a year's employment training to 20 Palestinians who suffered permanent disability during the conflict with Israel in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. The humanitarian initiative will enable the 20 Gazans to receive training at the Ministry of Interior's rehabilitation and employment centres for people with special needs.
The training programme will be funded by a grant from Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. After the training, which will focus on computer skills, e-design and maintaining electronic appliances, the Palestinians will be offered jobs, the state agency WAM reported, without disclosing specific fields of employment. "The new grant is in line with the UAE policy to support Arab brethren in all circumstances," said the centre's co-ordinator, Nasser al Sharaiqi.
Mr al Sharaiqi said that almost a third of the injuries sustained in the conflict had led to some kind of permanent physical disability. An estimated 2,000 Gazans were permanently disabled in the wake of Israel's military offensive on the Gaza Strip in January, which left about 1,300 Palestinians dead and about another 5,000 injured. "The initiative shows the solidarity of the UAE and its people with the people of Palestine at the current circumstances they are experiencing," Mr al Sharaiqi added.
He said that the training the Gazans would receive could help them and their families live independent lives as well as benefit the relationships between family members. The grant for the Palestinians follows an earlier initiative to train 11 disabled Lebanese. * The National