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Viewing cable 06JERUSALEM4029, WIDE PARTICIPATION AS GENERAL STRIKE ENTERS FIFTH

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06JERUSALEM4029 2006-09-06 14:44 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Jerusalem
VZCZCXYZ0027
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJM #4029/01 2491444
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061444Z SEP 06
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4765
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
UNCLAS JERUSALEM 004029 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR WILLIAMS/MAHER/STEINGER; 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WATERS; TREASURY FOR 
SZUBIN/LOEFFLER/NUGENT/HIRSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM EFIN KWGB
SUBJECT: WIDE PARTICIPATION AS GENERAL STRIKE ENTERS FIFTH 
DAY 
 
REF: JERUSALEM 3949 
 
1.  Summary:  A general strike by PA employees in protest of 
non-payment of salaries since March (see ref) entered its 
fifth day, September 6.  Union leaders have estimated 80-90 
percent PA employee participation.  Although the strike is 
more comprehensive in the West Bank than in Gaza, it has 
brought much of the public school system to a halt.  A 
commercial strike in the West Bank and a demonstration in 
front of the PLC headquarters in Gaza occurred September 5. 
In conversations with the ConGen, numerous Fatah and 
affiliated officials have welcomed the PA employees' strike 
and described it as creating an opportunity for PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) to confront Hamas and take 
difficult political decisions.  End summary. 
 
GENERAL STRIKE 
-------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) The current general strike by PA employees entered 
its fifth day with wide participation, especially in the West 
Bank.  The strikes have been organized by Fatah-dominated 
unions as part of a political strategy to increase pressure 
on the Hamas government.  President Abbas has lent support to 
the strikes in his public comments.  Fatah-affiliated public 
sector union leaders reported that roughly 90 percent of PA 
employees in the West Bank and 80 percent of employees in 
Gaza have participated to date in the open-ended strike. 
Speaking to the press, PA spokesperson Ghazi Hamad September 
4 warned that those union leaders responsible for the strike 
- especially Fatah-affiliated Bassam Zakarnah, head of the 
Palestinian Union of Public Employees - will be dealt with 
according to the law. 
 
TEACHERS' STRIKE 
---------------- 
 
3.  (SBU) The strike has largely shut down the public school 
system in the West Bank.  Mohammed Al-Sawwan, Chairman of the 
General Federation of Palestinian Teachers, told the press 
that over 75 percent of PA teachers adhered to the strike on 
September 2.  PA teachers have gathered in front of the 
Ministry of Education in Ramallah each day to protest the 
non-payment of their salaries.  Palestinian radio stated 
September 5 that Hamas had accused Fatah of forcing schools 
in Jenin and Ramallah to close, while Fatah had accused Hamas 
of forcing public schools in Gaza to open. 
 
4.  (SBU) USAID Gaza-based staff report that the teachers' 
strike has not been as widespread in Gaza, and that only 20 
of the 350 schools in Gaza were completely closed September 
2.  According to USAID Gaza-based staff, many 
Hamas-affiliated teachers have gone to work, while those 
Fatah-affiliated teachers have generally not.  Arabic daily 
al-Hayat al-Jadida reported September 3 that a school 
principal in Rafah was beaten by a Hamas Ministry of Interior 
force because he did not open his school on September 2.  In 
Hamas-dominated areas of Gaza, schools are operating as 
usual, while schools in Fatah-dominated areas have been open, 
but classrooms are mostly empty. 
 
GAZA PLC 
-------- 
 
5.  (SBU) Dozens of PLC employees held a sit-in strike on 
September 4 in front of the PLC offices in Gaza to protest 
the non-payment of salaries.  The employees reportedly held 
signs urging PLC members to find a solution to the 
non-payment of salaries in order to end employees' suffering. 
 
 
COMMERCIAL STRIKE IN WEST BANK 
------------------------------- 
 
6.  (SBU) Merchants in several large West Bank cities, with 
the encouragement of Fatah, held a commercial strike on 
September 5 in a show of solidarity with the PA employees. 
Mazen Sinokrot, former Minister of National Economy, told FSN 
economic specialist that roughly 85 percent of all commercial 
entities in Ramallah were closed September 5.  Imad Musseibeh 
Nusipeh, a major farmer in the Jordan Valley, told FSN 
economic specialist that 100 percent of commercial entities 
in Jericho were closed on September 5, adding that PA police 
ordered shop owners to close down in order to express 
 
solidarity with the PA employees.  Press reports stated that 
merchants in the cities of Bethlehem, Jenin and Nablus 
participated in the commercial strike as well. 
 
7.  (SBU) Said Sabi, head of the Qalqiliya Chamber of 
Commerce, told FSN economic specialist that less than 20 
percent of commercial entities in Qalqiliya closed September 
5.  Sabi added that local businesspeople had not received 
pressure to close their shops from Fatah or any other group, 
and for that reason, everything remained open. 
 
FATAH LOOKING FOR ABU MAZEN 
TO SEIZE THE INITIATIVE 
----------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU) Numerous Fatah and affiliated officials have 
welcomed the PA employees' strike in several conversations 
with ConGen.  Former PLC member Ahmad Abdel Rahman, speaking 
with poloff, described the strikes as an opportunity for Abu 
Mazen that would create political space for the PA President 
to take difficult political decisions.  Al-Ayyam editor Akran 
Haniya told the Consul General that he believes the strikes 
are significant.  He said that he hoped they would help the 
current political crisis and likened them to a "peaceful 
intifadah."  PLO Executive Committee member Yasser Abed Rabo 
also expressed enthusiasm to the Consul General about the 
strikes shortly before they began and following Abu Mazen's 
speech to protesters at the Muqata.  Abed Rabo suggested the 
strikes could change the political dynamic and help Abu Mazen 
to confront Hamas with popular support.  Members of the Fatah 
High Committee Qadurra Faris and Hatem Abdel Kader said they 
do not expect immediate steps from Abu Mazen, but they 
believe that the employees will continue to strike until they 
are paid, which, they argue, should eventually encourage Abu 
Mazen to take action. 
WALLES