The Democratic Front joined at the end of 1993. Fatah emerged as the dominant force within the union after the merger. In September 1990, the West Bank federation reported that 8,500 Palestinians, who were either expelled from the Gulf States or left because their work contracts were not renewed, had crossed into the West Bank from Jordan since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait the previous month. (Many Palestinian workers faced discrimination in Gulf countries in this period, after the PLO declared its support for the invasion.) Shaher Saed, described as the federation's General Secretary, complained that the problem of finding employment for these workers was compounded by the growing number of Palestinians who had lost their jobs to recent immigrants from the Soviet Union to Israel. He called for economists to develop constructive projects within Palestine, and for Palestinian workers to be allowed to return to the Gulf States. The federation reaffirmed its support for the PLO in the same period. When the Gulf War began in January 1991, Sa'ad complained that many Palestinian workers were unable to purchase food due to Israeli curfews that prevented them from reaching their workplaces. Oslo process Saed endorsed the Oslo Peace Process in 1993, and sent a public letter condemning violence and terror to Haim Haberfield, secretary-general of the Israeli Histadrut. In the same letter, Saed also called for Israel to return tax and pension money taken from workers in the occupied territories, which he said amounted to $27 billion. In response, Haberfield indicated that he too supported the peace process and called for an end to regional violence. The return of the exiled Palestinian leadership to the West Bank and Gaza after the signing of the Oslo Accords brought about a change in the PGFTU's structure. Shaher Saed was confirmed as its General Secretary and led its operations in the West Bank, while Rasem Biyari became its second-in-command and oversaw operations in Gaza. Nina Sovich has argued that the PGFTU was unable to develop an effective internal organization after this period, and was hindered by a rivalry between Saed and Haidar Ibrahim, the general secretary of the General Union of Palestinian Workers. The PGFTU and Histadrut reached a number of agreements during the Oslo years. In November 1994, the Histadrut agreed to transfer $6–7 million (NIS) to Palestinian unions in Gaza and the West Bank over two years. In February 1997, the Histadrut