Palestinians to strike over unpaid wages

RAMALLAH, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Palestinian public sector workers plan an open-ended strike if the Hamas-led government does not pay their long overdue wages, the head of the employees' union said on Tuesday.

Union chief Bassam Zakarneh said workers would hold a preliminary two-day strike starting on Wednesday. If the government fails to pay wages after that, an open-ended strike would begin on Sept. 2, he told Reuters.

The strike would cover all government employees, estimated to total 165,000, including public school teachers and health care workers, he said.

A U.S.-led aid boycott has prevented the Hamas-led government from paying salaries since March. Only a portion of the government workforce took part in previous strikes.

The strike could prevent the reopening on Sept. 2 of public schools attended by an estimated one million Palestinians.

"We will not come back to our workplaces until our demands are met," Zakarneh said. "We gave the government six months to solve this issue. I think the six-month period is more than enough."

The United States has not blocked funds from flowing to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate who advocates peace talks with Israel. Palestinian workers have received a small portion of their unpaid wages from Abbas.

Health workers have received funds from the European Union under an aid mechanism approved by major Western powers and the United Nations.

Some Palestinian workers have also received money from the Hamas-led government after several Hamas ministers hand-carried tens of millions of dollars in cash across Gaza's border with Egypt.

The United States has threatened to take punitive action against banks that transfer funds to Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's destruction.

Western powers have demanded that Hamas recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace deals.

Reuters, 22 august

Palestinian civil servants to launch strike

Palestinian civil servants, including teachers, announced Tuesday they would launch an open-ended strike September 2, the first day of the school year - another blow to the beleaguered Hamas government.

More than 165,000 Palestinians are employed by the Palestinian Authority. Of those, some 80,000 will go on strike, including 40,000 teachers and 25,000 health workers, said Bassem Hadaideh, spokesman of the civil servants' union. More than 80,000 members of the security forces will not join the strike, he said.

The union has ties to the Fatah movement, Hamas' main political rival.

Government workers have not received their salaries since March, when the Hamas took power. Israel and other Western countries have slapped debilitating sanctions on the Hamas government, demanding the group recognize Israel and renounce violence, something it has so far refused to do.

Due to the sanctions, Hamas has been unable to pay the workers in full. Since March, workers have on occasion received partial payments.

Jerusalem Post, 22 august 2006

Nothing really new in this article, but some sentences of one unionist. I'll try to translate the more interesting parts of this 3 articles in french this week-end...

Palestinian civil servants to strike
NDTV.com, Wednesday, August 23, 2006 (Ramallah):

Palestinian civil servants, including teachers, announced they would launch an open-ended strike on September 2nd.

The strike would be another blow to the beleaguered Hamas government.

More than 165,000 Palestinians are employed by the Palestinian Authority, of those, some 80,000 will go on strike, including 40,000 teachers and 25,000 health workers.

More than 80,000 members of the security forces will not join the strike, he said. The union has ties to the Fatah movement, Hamas' main political rival.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called the strike unacceptable, saying such acts would create more problems for the Palestinians. He called on civil servants not to heed the call for the strike.

Government workers have not received their salaries since March, when the Islamic militant Hamas took power.

Israel and other Western countries have slapped debilitating sanctions on the Hamas government, demanding the group recognize Israel and renounce violence, something it has so far refused to do.

Due to the sanctions, Hamas has been unable to pay the workers in full. Since March, workers have on occasion received partial payments.

"We haven't received our salaries in six months and nothing is on the horizon, financially or politically," Hadaideh said.

"We have given the government enough time to run the Palestinian Authority and provide us with our salaries, but unfortunately it has failed," he added. (AP)

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Personal comment : Of course i support the workers, but i think the main problem of this fight can be this :

Quote :

The union has ties to the Fatah movement, Hamas' main political rival.

Even Hamas is bullshit, the Fatah is not a worker organisation... I'm little worry about politicians games in this fight between two partys who are against an independant action and organisation of the working class. Even we can hope, once the workers are in the struggle, no politician will be abble to stop them...

PNN, Saturday, 19 August 2006 :

Quote :

Government employees in Bethlehem hold nonviolent protest demanding to be paid

After ceasing during the Israeli war against Lebanon, demonstrations in the Bethlehem District have begun once again. On Saturday afternoon government workers went back on strike, conducting a three-hour sit-in.

Their demand is simple: they want to be paid.

However with the current international climate, the solution is not simple.

Bethlehem government employees are back to limiting their work-day by cutting off three hours to protest the continued suffering, blaming not only the US and Israel, but the Palestinian Government as well.

It has been six months since the US-led economic and political blockade created major financial turmoil for working Palestinians who expect salaries. After dealing with food shortages inside the home, families are now also concerned over how to pay school fees, buy new books and school supplies, and uniforms for their children as the new school year approaches.

An unnamed source in the employees' union indicated that this three-hour sit-in was just a taste of what is yet to come, with a full strike expected to begin Thursday. However no one will strike if they are paid, but the source said that it seems the government thinks the situation can go on as is indefinitely.

The strikers issued a statement confirming that it would revert to implementing the strikes of the past and escalating them, making clear that the nonviolent protests were only put on hold during the Israeli war against Lebanon. Saturday’s statement called on the Palestinian Presidential Office and the Government to find a “speedy solution to this grave issue which is exacerbated with the more time that passes.”

Hospital Employees on strike in Nablus

Quote :

Palestinian Hospital Employees to Continue Strike Until Salaries Paid

Text of report by Palestinian news agency Wafa website

Nablus, 27 August: Public sector employees in the governmental health institutions in Nablus Governorate are continuing their strike today in protest against not receiving their salaries for six months. Over the past four days, governmental hospital employees have been treating only urgent cases. Signs on hospital walls said that the strike will go on until the workers are granted their legitimate rights, urging the public to call the hospital registration to arrange new appointments once the strike is over. The Health Ministry clinics are also on strike, thus denying citizens treatment and forcing them to turn to private institutions.

It should be noted that, in addition to the hospitals, various governmental ministries and institution were paralysed on 23 and 24 August owing to the public sector employees' strike.

Quote :

Palestinian Hospital Workers Strike Over Wages In West Bank
Monday August 28th, 2006

NABLUS (AP)--More than 150 workers at two Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank went on strike Monday to demand that the cash-strapped Hamas government pay their long-overdue salaries.
The two public hospitals in the West Bank city of Nablus had to turn patients away since about a third of their staff were not working, said a spokesman for Raffidiyeh Hospital, Jamil Ishtayeh.
"We can't continue unless we get our salaries," said a doctor, Kamal Al-Wazani, standing with other striking employees outside the hospital. "We have been quiet six months and can't be quiet any longer."
Hamas, which came to power in March, has been unable to pay salaries to 165,000 civil servants after Israel and Western countries cut off aid, demanding Hamas recognize Israel and renounce violence. Hamas has refused to change its militant platform.
The civil servants union announced recently that about 80,000 workers would launch an open-ended strike Sept. 2, the first day of the school year. The workers will include 37,000 teachers and 25,000 health workers, the union said.
The government has given out partial payments to workers at some points since it took power.
Palestinians had initially been patient, waiting to see how Hamas would overcome its financial problems. But in recent weeks, frustration has risen and Palestinians have taken to the streets in protest. Last week, thousands of Palestinians in Gaza demonstrated outside parliament, waving pita bread in the air as a sign of growing poverty.

Palestinians strike over lost pay

Tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants have gone on strike in protest at the failure of the Hamas-led government to pay wages.

There has been a big response in the West Bank, with most government offices shut and the first day of the school year heavily disrupted.

PM Ismail Haniya of Hamas had urged workers to boycott the strike.

An economic embargo on Hamas has left it unable to pay almost any civil servant salaries for six months.

The BBC's Alan Johnston in Ramallah says the strike is a key test for the Hamas-controlled administration.

He says the strike has powerful political overtones, with many government workers, particularly on the West Bank, linked to Hamas' rival, the opposition Fatah Party of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian police were out in many cities and towns to prevent clashes between Hamas and Fatah supporters.

'Illegal'

On the West Bank almost nobody came to work in government ministries and some doctors said they were only dealing with emergencies, our correspondent says.

Bassam Zakarneh, head of the union organising the strike, said it had "succeeded by 95%".

"We have given many chances to the government but they have done nothing. Our demand is that we get our salaries and all our salaries, not partial salaries."

The embargo, enforced by Israel and the West because Hamas refuses to renounce violence or accept Israel's right to exist, has left the Palestinian government almost completely broke.

It has been able to pay its employees for only one of the past six months of work.

In the Hamas stronghold of the Gaza Strip, many government workers did go to their ministries, although most schools were closed.

Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said the strike was illegal.

"The measures will not lead to the lifting of the siege against our people and will not enhance the payment of salaries," he said. "On the contrary, they will increase the suffering."

Hamas Radio broadcast that the strike had failed in the West Bank and Gaza.

One student in Gaza City, Fadi al-Asali, 15, said: "I am going back home, and I hope this strike will be over soon because the losers are the Palestinians."

BBC News, 3 September 2006

Haniyeh's staff join Gaza salary strike

Staff from the Palestinian prime minister's office went on strike Wednesday, joining a widespread work stoppage by civil servants demanding overdue salaries from the Hamas-led government.

About 30 workers joined dozens of other striking civil servants, holding up banners that said, "We want our salaries, we have a right to feed our children."

The strike, which began Sept. 2, has been lukewarm in Gaza, a Hamas stronghold, though several thousand security men rampaged in downtown Gaza City on Tuesday to demand their salaries.

The Hamas-led government has not been able to pay the salaries of 165,000 civil servants since it came to power in March, giving them small, sporadic stipends instead.

AP, 6 September 2006

Some other news about the strike :

PNN, Monday, 04 September 2006 :

Public sector employees in Jenin gathering in a city center tent calling for solidarity strikes

trikers in the northern West Bank Jenin District are taking their action to the streets. Government employees pitched a tent in the midst of the Jenin’s commercial activity Monday.

Speaking for the local strikers committee, Sheikh Tariq said, “The committee set up in the center of the city of Jenin in order to remain in permanent communication with the Palestinian public.”

From the sit-in tent the Sheikh continued, “We want to explain the reality and true dimensions of the strike, why the suffering of public sector employees led to drastic measures and led to this call for solidarity in order to achieve just and legitimate demands.”

Sheikh Tariq extended an invitation to the general population to support the public sector employee strike. He is suggesting a general commercial strike for Tuesday.

It was decided to escalate the strikes by asking more people to join, conducting marches and sit-ins in front of several institutions, and to declare an open hunger strike. The point, says Sheikh Tariq is to deliver a “clear message to the Government to not close its ears to the cries of public sector employees who spent six months patiently waiting.”

Government employees, including many teachers, health care workers, and office employees have not been paid since the Hamas Government took office and the US and Israel joined forces in a political and economic blockade.

Palestine News Network - Tuesday, 05 September 2006 :

Commercial sector joins teachers and other public sector employees in solidarity strikes

Commercial workers have been striking since the early morning hours in several West Bank cities, including Tulkarem. The northwestern West Bank city heeded the People’s Committee for Solidarity call for a comprehensive commercial strike to supplement the public sector strikes. Tulkarem’s streets are nearly empty, no cars are honking and the only shops open are bakeries.

Teachers are the major players in the recent public sector strikes that include heavy health sector and government office employee participation in Bethlehem and Nablus.

Today’s partial solidarity strikes in Nablus were organized by the Teacher’s Union and the Union of Medical Professionals. Non-Governmental Organizations joined Tuesday’s action. Shops are open and commerce is underway, as is the case in Qalqilia.

Government employee demands are simply that they want to be paid. Since Israel stopped paying the taxes it owes and the United States declared an economic and political boycott, the Hamas Government has been struggling to pay public sector employees.

The education sector is among those hardest hit and the resulting strike is having a devastating affect on students. Jamal Yacoub, Secretary of the Teachers Union in Tulkarem, told PNN Tuesday that of the District’s 2,100 teachers only 317 are in class.

Bethlehem’s private schools joined government school teacher strikes today and sent thousands of children home. The commercial sector has also joined and Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour are quieter than usual. However dozens of teachers protested in front of the Bethlehem Ministry of Education, demanding to be paid after six months spent patiently waiting.

For four days those West Bank towns that are striking have not had full academic or medical services. In Tulkarem Dr. Thabet Thabet Hospital is only taking emergency cases and chronic disease patients suffering from cancer, or heart and kidney problems.



The solidarity strikes were called for Tuesday only, but the government teacher and health care workers strikes in participating West Bank districts have no end in sight.

Medical professionals and members of the Nablus Teacher’s Union gathered to protest not being paid. The government workers were joined by civil society organizations and private sector employees who declared their solidarity with the one day strike Tuesday.

A number of demonstrators delivered speeches noting their desire to reach an agreement with the government, which has thus far refused all dialogue. One demonstrator said that the strike is “not an end, but a means to reach our rights.”

Another demonstrator stressed the importance of paying teachers so that they may resume classes and continue to educate Palestinian schoolchildren. He stated, “The most vulnerable sector of society, our children, are being adversely affected by how politicized the situation has become. Without education for our children, we cannot hope for change in future generations.”

For the most part Gaza Strip teachers are not striking. In Gaza City today hundreds of students organized a protest in front of the Directorate of Education against the strike, calling for its end and a continuation of the educational process.

Hebron teachers and healthcare workers strike for 10th day in a row

Government officials and civil servants are striking for the 10th day in a row today in the Hebron province. Health and education employees, including schoolteachers, are protesting the government’s continual failure to pay salaries. Many government employees have not received their paychecks in over six months.

Hundreds of teachers and school administrators from the South Hebron Educational Directorate staged a mass sit-in this morning in front of the City Cultural Center in the Village of Dura, located southwest of Hebron.

A demonstrator from the United Federation of Teachers told PNN that the sit-in is expected to last at least three days, and that participants hope to draw awareness to the problem.

The strike in Hebron, among other areas of Palestine, has enacted a complete paralysis of government institutions. While hundreds of teachers and school administrators strike, thousands of Palestinian school children remain outside the classroom. In the health sector, medical sources report that hospital sanitation is suffering and that only the most severe cases and emergencies and being handled.

PNN - 11 September 2006

Palestinian unions vow to keep striking

Khaleej Times - 12 September 2006

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian unions vowed on Tuesday to keep striking despite assurances from president Mahmud Abbas that salaries would be paid after a deal on a national unity government which could lead to renewed Western aid payments.

‘These statements by Abu Mazen (Abbas) won’t stop the strike’ that started 10 days ago, Bassam Zakarna, chairman of the public sector employees’ union, told AFP.

‘Abbas’s promise is for the media, not for us. We want negotiations and there have been no negotiations,’ he added.

Earlier, Abbas promised civil servants striking in front of his Gaza City office that they would receive within weeks wages unpaid in full since the Islamist Hamas movement formed a cabinet in March.

‘I hope that with God’s help the salaries will begin to be paid before the start of Ramadan. Things are progressing in a good direction,’ he said.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is due to begin around September 23.

The statement came a day after Abbas struck a power sharing deal with the ruling Hamas movement, triggering renewed hope that Western aid payments would soon return to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants have been on strike since September 2 to claim full salary payments, shutting down schools and many public services, including sanitation, in the territories.

The European Union and the United States halted direct financial aid to the Palestinian government in March over Hamas’s refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence or abide by previous peace agreements.

The Hamas government accused Fatah officials of orchestrating the strike in order to put pressure on the Islamist-led administration to agree to a national unity government.

Abbas appealed for the unions, which are thought to be close to his Fatah party, to end the action after he and the Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya announced the deal on the coalition government Monday.

But the unions rejected his calls.

‘This strike is not connected to the type of government and it will continue because what matters to us is the payment of our salaries,’ Zakarna told reporters Monday.

Teachers’ union head Jamil Shahada said: ‘We promised union members that their demands would be met and the strike will continue as long as that is not the case.’

Have comrades thought of ways we can support these brothers and sisters?

Miles

CommunistLeague wrote:

Have comrades thought of ways we can support these brothers and sisters?

Miles

In november 2004, we (i mean my union and some other unionists in my town) had a meeting with palestinian unionists. To try to explain you in few words, the official and main palestinian union, called Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGUFTU) is really far for being a worker independant organisation, with very strong links with the PLO and the Fatah. To give you an exemple, the leaders of the PGUFTU are not elected by the workers, but choiced by the PLO official.

But, there are also some tendencies in the palestinian worker movement to create some independant unions or worker organisations. You have for instance the DWRC (Democracy and Worker's Rights Center in Palestine), who is an NGO who tries to help the workers to organise them self, some independant workers comitte and also some people into the PGUFTU who try to make it more independant and less bureaucratic (like for instance in the communication union).

There you have a link about the Independent Workers' Committees Federation in Gaza :
http://www.labournet.de/internationales/pal/foederationsgruendung.html

There a text from the DWRC about the strike :

Quote :

Support the demands of Palestinian public sector workers on strike

On September 2nd, 154,000 employees of the Palestinian Authority are starting a general strike to protest against the non-payment of their wages for the past six months. DWRC calls upon trade unions and workers’ organizations to demand that their governments resume immediately their full financial support of the Palestinian Authority and put pressure on the Israeli occupying power to ensure respect of its financial obligations towards the Palestinian people

On September 2nd, 154,000 employees of the Palestinian Authority are starting a general strike to protest against the non-payment of their wages for the past six months. These workers and over 1 million of Palestinians, which they support, have been deprived of their monthly income due to the financial boycott imposed by the Israeli occupying power, its US ally and European countries on the new Palestinian government formed after the democratic legislative elections of January 2006. Israel stopped transferring customs revenues and tax returns to the Palestinian Authority in violation of its obligations according to the agreements signed between Israelis and Palestinians under the auspice of international parties, whereas external financial assistance from most foreign donors was stopped.

After silently and courageously bearing the consequences of this boycott for many months, Palestinian public sector employees have decided to call attention onto their plight and send a strong message to Palestinian and international decision-makers. They cannot continue to perform their duties without being paid their salaries. They have a right to live in dignity and meet the basic needs of their families. At the same time, the strike will disrupt all services provided by the PA to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including provision of health care -except in emergency cases- and proper functioning of public schools at the start of the school year 2006/2007.

The Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center in Palestine supports the strike of Palestinian public sector workers, who are exercising a basic labor right guaranteed by national and international law. We also believe that a wide mobilization of political forces and institutions, as well as the civil society here and around the world, is crucial in order to end the crisis as soon as possible. Therefore, we call upon all defenders of democracy, civil society organizations, trade unions and workers’ organizations to take position in solidarity with Palestinian public sector workers and demand from their governments that they resume immediately their full financial support of the Palestinian Authority and put pressure on the Israeli occupying power to ensure respect of its financial obligations towards the Palestinian people in accordance with signed agreements.

You can contact them trought this adress :
info@dwrc.org

Al Jazeera, Monday 18 September 2006

Quote :

Striking Palestine workers mob Haniya
Shots have been fired into the air by bodyguards of Ismail Haniya, the Palestine prime minister, to disperse striking government workers protesting over unpaid wages.

The workers mobbed Haniya’s motorcade outside parliament on Monday. Shots were fired to clear a path for the prime minister.

Haniya was forced to cancel a speech to parliament on the economic situation in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

An open-ended strike by government employees started on September 2.

Monday’s parliamentary session was suspended and members of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction left the chamber to join the protesters. Workers chanted "Haniya, where are the salaries?" and "Haniya go home".

Some protesters jumped onto Haniya's car.

The prime minister's bodyguards and members of a Hamas-led police force fired shots into the air to force them back. One woman was slightly hurt.

A Washington-led aid embargo has prevented Haniya's Hamas government from paying salaries to 165,000 workers since the Islamic militant group took power in March.

The workers' unions are dominated by Fatah, which was defeated by Hamas in parliamentary elections in January.

Fatah parliamentarians accused Haniya's bodyguards and the policemen of using excessive force.

Schools, clinics shut down
The employees have a right to demonstrate," said Azam al-Ahmad, head of the Fatah faction in parliament.

He accused Haniya's bodyguards of "attacking lawmakers and in protest we have decided to boycott this session and suspend it".

The strike by workers has shut down hundreds of schools and health clinics across the West Bank and in parts of the Gaza Strip.

Abbas and Haniya agreed last week to form a coalition government, in an attempt to ease the aid embargo.

The president's aides say that decision has been put on hold because Hamas reneged on the terms of the deal.

An opinion poll indicated on Monday that 54 per cent of Palestinians were not satisfied with the overall performance of the Hamas-led government; but they do not want Hamas to recognise Israel in order to ease the aid embargo.

Sixty-nine per cent of those surveyed said they were not satisfied with the government's performance on economic issues, according to the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research poll.

Sixty-six per cent of those surveyed said they did not think Hamas should accept the demands of Western powers to recognise Israel. Only 30 per cent said it should.

Only a quarter of those surveyed said they supported the formation of a national unity government under the leadership of Hamas.

The largest percentage support a national unity government in which Fatah and Hamas have equal power.

(Tulkarem) Palestine News Network - Saturday, 16 September 2006
Three week teachers strike to continue

There is no end in sight to the government schools teachers strike that entered its third week Saturday. The northwestern West Bank Tulkarem District has shown some of the strongest resolve to go forward among participants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Teachers and other public sector employees are still demanding salaries unpaid for the past six months since Hamas took office and the US and Israel began the devastating political and economic blockade. Jamil Al Yacoub of the Tulkarem Teachers Union said today that the strike will continue.

Staff and teachers are demanding full and fair paychecks. The non-strikers are only seven percent and Israeli forces are targeting them. The Deputy Managing Director of Education in Tulkarem was arrested at a military checkpoint occupying the northwestern West Bank.

Many Imams in the mosques called for charitable donations to government sector employees and health care workers are holding a vaccination clinic on Sunday from 9 am through 11 am. Although health care workers are on strike the Department of Health is also providing limited services, including emergency and chronic care.

West Bank Palestine News Network - Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Solidarity call for public sector employees who continue to assert strike is not political

The National Committee to Support Public Sector Employees said Tuesday that the strike has nothing to do with political policy. The West Bank organization denounced the “rumors and lies about ending the civil servants and teachers strikes.”

In a statement issued today the Committee continued, “The strikes will end only when the just and legitimate demands of teachers and staff for salary payments are met.”

Supporters commented that rumors are feeding on hunger and fear, and warned of attempts to politicize the strike. “There is no link between attempts to form a national unity government and the strike or other affairs of Palestinian policy. We welcome any possibilities for inter-factional agreements that might get the people out from under the state of siege, to relieve the suffering of the people and to achieve national reconciliation.”

The statement also called to “strengthen our domestic front against sedition, maintain our national unity and show our unity as Muslims and Christians while facing misuse of religion without prejudicing the sacredness of places of worship.”

The Committee also stressed its support for teacher, health care workers, and other public sector unions for their commitment to remain on strike until they achieve their demands.

A call was issued to participate in solidarity demonstrations in Bethlehem, meeting at Beit Jala Hospital tomorrow morning, and Hebron, further south in the West Bank, after Friday prayers.

Newsflashes, PNN, 27 september 2006 :
Members of the Palestinian police blocked roads in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun in protest of not receiving salaries Tuesday evening

Gulf Time, Friday, 29 September, 2006

Quote :

Unpaid policemen burn tyres in Gaza

GAZA: Hundreds of Palestinian police and security officers yesterday blocked all main roads in Gaza City with garbage containers and burning tyres in a protest over largely unpaid wages.

Policemen, firing rifles into the air, turned some garbage bins upside down, causing rubbish to spill out and also broke up concrete to halt traffic on Gaza City’s main streets, in a further sign of growing unrest over delayed salaries.

Most police were from security services loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been locked in an increasingly bitter confrontation with the Hamas-led government of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh over stalled efforts to form a unity coalition.

Palestinians hope a unity government will lead to the lifting of Western sanctions imposed when the Hamas Islamist movement took office in March.

The embargo has prevented the Palestinian Authority paying full salaries since then.

In a small boost for the Authority’s 165,000 workers, acting Finance Minister Samir Abu Eisha said partial salaries for September were to be paid yesterday via Abbas’s office.

Workers earning 1,500 shekels ($350) or less would get their full wage, while those earning more would get 1,500 shekels.

"Our protest is not politically motivated, it is motivated by the hunger and needs of our children," said one policeman, his face smeared with black from the smoke of burning tyres.

"Haniyeh or Abbas, we do not care about their problems. We care about our welfare."

The West cut direct aid to the Palestinian Authority over Hamas’s refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace accords with the Jewish state.

Hamas accused some "political parties" of sponsoring the demonstration. Abbas’s Fatah movement said Hamas was trying to escape its responsibility for ending the financial crisis.

Employees in the West Bank city of Ramallah began queuing at automated teller machines as soon as word of Abu Eisha’s announcement of partial wage payments spread.

In Gaza City, the protests closed almost all main roads.

Taxi drivers struggled to find their way through, travelling long distances through alleyways to get to their destinations.

The police action comes amid a month-long strike by many other government workers such as teachers over unpaid wages.

Some analysts had speculated such pressure might have forced Hamas to meet Abbas’s demand that the planned unity government recognise interim peace deals with Israel as an attempt to satisfy the West.

Hamas, which trounced Fatah in January parliamentary elections, has insisted it will never recognise the Jewish state. Both Hamas and Fatah have traded accusations over who is to blame for the breakdown in unity talks. – Reuters

Palestinian security officers block the main road linking the southern and north Gaza Strip with burning tyres as they protest demanding the payment of their long overdue salaries by the Hamas-led government at the Al Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip yesterday

Quote :

At Least 6 Die As Palestinian Movements Clash in Gaza

Hamas Security Forces Move on Fatah Protest

Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, October 2, 2006; Page A14

JERUSALEM, Oct. 1 -- The Palestinian security service controlled by Hamas moved forcefully in the Gaza Strip on Sunday to disperse demonstrators loyal to the rival Fatah movement who were demanding months of back pay from a nearly bankrupt government.

At least six people were killed, including two teenage boys, and more than 100 were injured in day-long clashes that marked the most severe partisan violence between the two sides in months.

The fighting, which erupted in downtown Gaza City and later flared in the West Bank, came after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's effort to form a power-sharing cabinet with Hamas collapsed in recent days. The apparent failure has brought mutual recriminations between the two main Palestinian political movements at a time of stifling economic crisis in the territories stemming from international sanctions against the Hamas-controlled government.

Ghazi Hamad, an adviser to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, called the violence "regrettable." He accused the demonstrators, many of them from the Fatah-dominated security forces, of attacking members of the 3,000-member security branch that reports directly to the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. Many of those who serve in that force also belong to Hamas's military wing.

"The protest today was beyond acceptable legal norms and turned truly into lawlessness," Hamad told reporters in Gaza.

Fatah leaders in Gaza called on Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, to launch a probe into the crackdown and take action against the Hamas government. One of those killed was a member of the Palestinian preventive security forces, a powerful branch whose ranks are filled with Fatah members.

Abbas has so far declined to exercise his authority to fire Haniyeh and dissolve the government. But pressure is building within his party for him to take bold steps to end the political crisis following his apparent failure to organize a so-called national unity government.

Abbas announced last month that his secular-nationalist Fatah party and Hamas, a radical Islamic movement, had agreed to a joint political program that would usher in a power-sharing government. Haniyeh endorsed the agreement, which his aides said would leave him in the position of prime minister. The new government would comprise members of the two major parties, smaller movements with seats in the parliament and technocrats without political affiliation.

The agreement also accepted the 2002 Arab peace initiative that calls for the recognition of the Jewish state once Israel leaves all territory it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

But the deal has unraveled in the past few days. Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders have said that Hamas as a movement would never recognize Israel's right to exist. Abbas has accused Hamas of reneging on the agreement, saying the talks to form a unity government are "back to square one."

The United States, the European Union and other international donors have demanded that Hamas renounce violence, recognize the Jewish state and accept signed agreements with Israel in return for a renewal of aid, which accounts for nearly half the authority's $2 billion annual budget.

Those sanctions remain in place, and Israel has also kept frozen the roughly $55 million in monthly tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinian government, a sum equal to roughly half the authority's monthly payroll.

The 165,000 Palestinian government employees, nearly half of them in the security forces, have received only a small fraction of their salaries in the past seven months. A civil-service strike across Gaza and the West Bank has kept public schools shuttered, courts closed and the parliament out of action for nearly a month.

The clashes Sunday began outside the parliament building in Gaza, and gunfights quickly spread across much of the city's main commercial area. Witnesses said the Hamas security branch used grenades, antitank weapons and rifles to break up the protesters. There were also reports of violent demonstrations in the central Gaza city of Khan Younis. Later in the evening in Gaza, hand grenades were thrown at a group of Fatah demonstrators, killing one and injuring 30 0thers.

In response to the Hamas crackdown in Gaza, armed Fatah loyalists vandalized and partly burned the empty cabinet building in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Hours earlier, dozens of protesters there marched in the city streets, chanting "Hamas Out!"

A Hamas security force member, in dark blue with gun, struggles with a protester in the Gaza Strip.

Strike extension to petrol workers ?

The Associated Press- October 8, 2006 :

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Palestinian strikers threaten to paralyze West Bank and Gaza

RAMALLAH, West Bank Palestinian civil servants threatened Sunday to paralyze the West Bank and Gaza Strip by bringing employees of the petroleum authority into their strike and drying up local fuel supplies if the government does not pay them.

"In our hands are cards that have not been used yet," said Ahmad Assaf, a spokesman for the Union of Civil Servants.

The strikers, many of them supporters of the opposition Fatah movement, said they had stopped work for 36 days but had seen no tangible results.

Assaf said they were considering inviting the fuel workers into the strike.

The Hamas-led government has been unable to pay its 165,000 civil servants full salaries since it took power in March and Western donors and Israel cut economic ties with the government, demanding Hamas recognize Israel and renounce violence.

Tensions between Fatah and Hamas supporters erupted into violence next week.

The Peninsula, October 10, 2006 :

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Palestinian unions threaten to expand strike

RAMALLAH, West Bank • Striking Palestinian government employees threatened yesterday to expand a strike to include petrol workers which could freeze the distribution of fuel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“If the government continues to ignore the workers’ demands we will take steps to escalate the strike to include employees of the Petrol Company who haven’t received their salares and are asking to join the strike,” Ahmed Assaf, a member of the Public Sector Employees Union, told a press conference.

Tens of thousands of Palestinian civil servants have been on strike since September 2 to claim full salary payments, shutting down schools and many public services, including sanitation, in the impoverished territories. “There is no hope on the horizon for settling the crisis so the strike will continue and will only end when we receive our salaries,” union spokesman Bassem Hudaida said.

The Petrol Company employs about 200 workers and is the lone body overseeing the import and distribution of fuel in the Palestinian territories.

The European Union and the United States halted direct financial aid to the Palestinian government in March over Hamas’s refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence or abide by previous peace agreements.

The Hamas government accused Fatah officials of orchestrating the strike in order to put pressure on the Islamist-led administration to agree to a national unity government.

Headquarters of PGFTU attacked

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which represents 155 million workers in 156 countries and territories, objects very strongly to the attack on the headquarters of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) in Gaza on 12 October 2006.

The ICFTU has been informed by its affiliate the PGFTU that 40 armed men wearing masks entered its offices at night. The intruders opened fire and attacked all persons present. They cut the electricity to prevent all PGFTU communication and they even tried to burn down the offices by throwing grenades and explosives. The building was badly damaged.

The PGFTU believes that the attack is connected to criticism directed at Prime Minister Mr. Ismail Haniya in protest at unemployment, poverty and in support of government employees, as it also received death threats after the criticism had been made.

The ICFTU would like to draw your attention to the fact that it is against the internationally recognised principle of freedom of association to attack trade unions using their right to freedom of expression in order to promote workers’ rights. The Palestinian Authority, as a responsible Authority, must uphold internationally recognised rights, including full respect for fundamental human rights of workers.

The ICFTU urges you to order an investigation into this attack and to ensure that the union is paid proper compensation to repair the damages to its office. The ICFTU also urges you to ensure that trade unions be protected in future so that workers can operate in a climate free of fear and help promote peace, security, dignity for workers and their families throughout the region.

ICFTU, 18 October 2006

Palestinian Strike Imperils School Year

Eighth-grader Thaer Shweikiyeh, who dreams of being a doctor one day, was excited about going back to school after the summer vacation. Instead, he's been selling onions in the local farmers' market for the past two months, and his new school bag remains unused.

Thaer is one of 800,000 Palestinian students locked out by an open-ended teachers' strike, called over the Hamas-led government's failure to pay salaries to 165,000 civil servants since it came to power in March.

A quick end to the strike appears unlikely.

Squeezed by an international aid boycott, the Islamic militant rulers have no money to pay the teachers. But Hamas says there's much more behind the walkout than a wage dispute: They accuse the rival Fatah movement, which dominates the teachers' unions, of keeping the strike going in an effort to bring down the government.

Education Minister Nasser Shaer of Hamas called the strike a "national catastrophe." He is appealing to the Arab world to help pay the teachers' salaries. In the meantime, he said, the teachers must return to work.

But educators said they will not keep working for free. "We were left unable to feed our families," said Muzied Ali, a 47-year-old English teacher at a village high school near Jerusalem.

Many Palestinians put a premium on education as a means of survival _ a response to their turbulent history of uprooting and exile. The West Bank and Gaza Strip have one of the highest literacy rates in the Arab world, and Palestinian professionals hold key positions in wealthy Gulf economies, often supporting families back home.

Palestinian parents are increasingly worried about their children's future as it appears likely students will lose the entire school year due to the standoff _ a blow to a society already weary from growing internal strife, economic depression and years of Israeli travel bans.

Most students now spend their days watching TV, hanging out in Internet cafes or pool halls late into the night, or working in their parents' businesses. Educators fear many 12th graders may not be able to graduate next spring, even though some teachers are holding informal classes for the seniors.

The exceptions are about 300,000 attending private schools and those funded by the United Nations in refugee camps.

The strike is reminiscent of the Israeli-imposed school closures during the first Palestinian uprising, from 1987-1993, when students would miss months of school at a time. Many of that generation say they still have large gaps in their education they have been unable to fill as adults.

Parents are divided over whether to blame the government or teachers for the current strike.

Shopkeeper Omar Abu Hamda, 42, a father of five, said the teachers have a responsibility to their students and must get back to their classrooms.

But driving instructor Jawad Abul Sheikh, 38, also a father of five, said the government should step down. "The whole region is standing against them, not only Israel and the West," he said of the Hamas rulers.

Bassem Hadaideh, spokesman for the civil servants union, said the strike _ which includes some 40,000 teachers and 15,000 health care workers _ would be broadened if the government doesn't pay up.

Some of the 80,000 members of the security forces could soon walk out, he said. The men in uniform are on the job for now, but have staged protests from time to time. One of these protests ignited clashes with Hamas militants that left 12 dead and dozens injured in Gaza this month.

Hamas and Fatah gunmen have tried to settle the strike dispute by force, clashing in the West Bank towns of Nablus and Tulkarem over whether schools should be open or closed. Teachers have been threatened by gunmen from both sides.

Teachers with Hamas loyalties have largely kept working, trying mainly to help the high school seniors. In the town of Anata near Jerusalem, five of 18 teachers are giving three classes a day.

But that may not be enough to graduate, said Rami Hamdallah, head of An Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus. He expects the incoming class of students to shrink by 25 percent.

Thaer, the aspiring doctor, said he misses school, but in the meantime he has to put in 12-hour days to make money for his family. On a recent morning, the 14-year-old had no luck selling bunches of fresh green onions outside a neighborhood mosque, but said he'd try again later in the day.

One of Thaer's co-workers, 17-year-old Ziad Jumma, said he feels out of place in the market.

"I'm so tired of being here," he said as he pushed a cart loaded with a customer's produce. "Yesterday, I told my family if the government schools don't open, I'll look for a private school."

CBS, Oct. 22, 2006

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Palestinian teachers end strike

About 40,000 Palestinian teachers are ending a two-month strike after being told that part of their monthly salary will be paid.

Most of the teachers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will receive a 1,000 shekel ($231) down payment on Tuesday with the rest of the money before the end of the month, Naser al-Shaer, the education minister, said.

The teachers have been on strike since the start of the new school year on September 2.

Bassam Zakarneh, the head of the government employees' union, said that despite the teachers' suspension of their strike, other public sector workers would not return to work.

Crisis

Tens of thousands of government employees went on strike in protest against unpaid salaries and the perceived failings of the Hamas-led government.

Government wages have been largely unpaid since Hamas took power in March.

Hamas was thrown into a crisis when foreign donor countries reacted to their election by cutting off aid to the government and Israel refused to release revenues it collects on the Palestinian government's behalf.

Back payments

Al-Shaer said: "Teachers will return to the school starting tomorrow [Tuesday]. They will be paid 1,000 shekels immediately and the outstanding amount will be paid not later than November 20."

The average salary of a Palestinian teacher is under 3,000 shekels ($694).

Al-Shaer said that the government was working on a formula to secure back payments of salaries that had not been paid.

He said: "Education is one of the most pressing issues and we must deal with it first."

Power struggle

The strike was the first major work stoppage of its kind since Hamas came to power and it amounted to a challenge to the government's authority by the rival Fatah movement, which strongly backed the strike.

Most government workers are affiliated to Fatah, the party led by Mahmoud Abbas, the president, who has been in a power struggle with Hamas since they won elections in January.

Ismail Haniya, the prime minister and Hamas leader, and Abbas held talks on Monday over the possibility of forming a unity government, which might help put an end to the crisis.

Al Jazeera, November 7. 2006