PALESTINE: Teachers resume strike

PALESTINE: Teachers resume strike

RAMALLAH, Palestine — Palestine's teachers resumed a long-running strike on May 2 following the Palestinian Authority's (PA) failure to fulfill promises for wage rises for 25,000 teachers working in public schools in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian teachers' wages are so low that many are forced to find second jobs in order to support themselves.

Last month, Palestine President Yasser Arafat ordered a 25% pay rise for teachers following a strike that began on February 19. The increases never eventuated. PA authorities responded violently to the February strike. Demonstrators in Hebron on February 22 were beaten and three students, aged 13 to 15 years, were hospitalised.

The most recent strike has also met PA repression. Omar Assaf, politburo member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and a member of the Higher Coordination Committee of Teachers (HCCT) was arrested on May 5. Assaf was accused of "spreading lies about the Authority and making false accusations" by Palestinian chief of police Ghazi Jabali.

During an interview on the popular Palestinian The Sound of Love and Peace radio station, Assaf accused the PA of misspending the education budget. He has been refused legal representation and remains imprisoned in Ramallah. The Sound of Love and Peace was closed by the PA for two days after the interview.

The HCCT was formed in 1997 during a bitter strike by teachers who perceived the official teachers' union as being too closely tied to the PA. During that strike, 25 HCCT leaders were arrested.

According to the Palestinian human rights organisation LAW, teacher activists have been "interrogated and questioned about their political affiliation, requested to sever their relations with the HCCT and to refrain from participating in protest action. They were also warned about the consequences of not responding to these requests."

BY AHMED NIMER

From GLW issue 405