No school
Photo: Visual Photo
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh
Photo: AFP
PA teachers go on strike
Thousand of civil servants, teachers strike in protest delay in salaries; most schools shut on opening day
While the Israeli school year will open on Sunday as planned, in the Palestinian Authority most pupils were sent home on Saturday as teachers declared a strike to protest the delay in payments of long-due salaries.
Palestinian sources said the strike was a major success for civil servants as tens of thousands of teachers heeded their calls to not work until wages are paid.
A handful of schools operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency were open however.
The teachers defied calls by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh who urged them to call off the strike and ignored falls media reports that strike has been cancelled.
The strike increased tensions between Hamas and Fatah, whose members accused Hamas activists of trying to break into some schools in Gaza's Khan Younis to undermine the strike.
Hamas said the strike is political, aimed at harming the Hamas-led government after failed efforts by the Fatah rival party to bring it down.
Fatah rejected Hamas's accusations, saying Palestinian Authority employees are genuinely frustrated with the government's failure to pay their wages since April.
The Hamas government paid state workers two advanced payments and has plans to pay two additional disbursements at the beginning and end of September ahead of the Ramadan festivity.
