"From this day on, there is
no government anymore!"
Palestinian workers employed by the Palestinian
Authority declared an all out strike to demand full payment of their wages on 2
September 2006. This movement took place during a military assault by the
Israeli regime on the Palestinian territories. The embargo placed on the
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) by the Israeli government, the
United States and the European Union after the election victory of Hamas in January 2006 has meant that 165 000 workers employed
by the Palestinian Authority, went without wages for more than six months. The
wages of these workers support approximately a million Palestinians. The strike
involved about 100,000 workers and raised important questions about the
political situation inside the Palestinian territories following the elections.
Since the strike was announced, the Hamas leadership accused Fatah
(the political organisation which used to be led by Yassir
Arafat and which was the main component part of the Palestine Liberation
Organisation) of having orchestrated the strike to sabotage the Palestinian Hamas government, thus preparing the way for Fatah’s return to power.
Protests against non-payment of wages took place
throughout the Palestinian territories over several months. However, these
protests were temporarily suspended during the
When the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) withdrew
from the Gaza Strip in 2005, the effect for all Palestinians was mainly symbolic.
They kept on living under siege conditions and none of the main social and
economic problems were solved. The Israeli elite hoped that by shutting the
Gaza Strip off and denying the Palestinians any freedom of movement, its
problems would go away. At the same time the Israeli ruling class used the
“concession” of withdrawal from
Despair and a feeling of helplessness dominate
the Palestinian street. Poverty has rocketted and
most families are forced to focus on their own day-to-day struggle for survival.
In tandem with this, organised crime has become an even bigger problem and many
small businesses and shops are victims of extortion. The average per capita
income in the
European capitalist powers are increasingly
worried about the total collapse of the PNA as a result of civil war or another
insurrection. It is this fear that led to European pressure for the temporary
reopening of the Karni/El Mantar
and Rafah crossings to allow some humanitarian relief
to enter. Jan Egeland, the UNRWA chief in the Gaza
Strip appealed to the international community to transfer funds to the
Palestinian Authority to “disarm the time bomb” (TVNZ 29 August 2006). However,
all of these humanitarian efforts are nothing but an attempt to regulate the
level of repression, both militarily and economically, in order to prevent an
uncontrolled explosion from below.
The result of the elections for the Legislative
Council of the PNA was a crushing blow for the imperialist powers. They had
promoted these elections only to discover that the Palestinians elected Hamas and Fatah suffered its
worst defeat ever. In practice both Hamas and Fatah got about the same number of votes, 400,000 each -
but the splits inside Fatah led to competing
candidates in the same constituencies. This prevented them from forming a
parliamentary majority. The vote for Hamas signified
mostly a rejection of the corrupt policies of the Fatah
government and politicians. According to opinion polls this was the main issue
for 40% of the people who had decided to vote for Hamas.
Anger at the surrender of the Fatah leadership to
continued Israeli agression was also an important
factor.
For
The reason for these measures is that all the imperialist powers, including
The reaction to the Hamas
victory in the elections was a coordianted embargo by
More and more families now lack access to the
most basic services and goods. The situation has grown much since the beginning
of November 2005. Then the Israeli government launched a large scale attack on
the West Bank in response to the launching of a Katyusha
rocket from the
It should be noted that the local Hamas leadership has officially banned non-defensive fire
from February 2005 onwards. This ban was part of the “Tahadiya”
(“Calming Down”) declared by Abbas at the Sharem-a-Sheikh summit The rocket fire which let to
the incursion in November 2005 was in all likelihood launched by other
organisations and was used as a pretext by the Iraeli
regime to attack the West Bank and weaken the Hamas
government.
The local Hamas leadership
was surprised to get such a high vote. The panic which shook the leadership was
evident when they had to provide answers in government to the Palestinian
masses. Hamas’s standing has been damaged by its weak
position during the latest crisis. They did not dare to take any radical
measures to relieve the suffering of the masses, for example the local banks
were left to do as they pleased. On the other hand, many workers who suffered
from the financial blockade imposed by the imperialist powers, and many
families who have been the victim of military attacks by the IDF, point the
finger at the real culprits i.e. the Israeli regime and its international
allies.
The feeling of helplessness added to the popular
support for a government of national unity in which all parties would
participate to head off the current crisis.
The Fatah leadership
understands this and has used it to reconstruct their support in certain areas.
This provoked in some areas armed clashes between Farah and Hamas
activists. mostly students. They confronted each other
in a fight over control over the streets. At one point the offices of the
Palestinian National Assembly (PNA) were attacked raising the prospect of a
full scale civil war as a possible perspective. The leaderships on both sides
have no interests in sparking a civil was and started talks to reach a cease
fire.
At the same time the organised Palestinian
political prisoners, greatly respected in the Palestinian street, held by the
Israeli regime in prisons inside Israel presented a new document known
popularly as the “Prisoners Document”. This document was drawn up under the
direction of Marwan Barghutti,
the last remaining popular leader of Fatah imprisoned
in
The local Hamas
leadership initially rejected the prisoners document
because it implicitly recognised the state of
In doing this, they increased the tensions
between themselves and the more hardline leadership
based abroad. These tensions might lead to a split in Hamas
in future and they are the reason why a further agreement over the formation of
a national unity government has been delayed.
The workers’ protests that were suspended during
the Israeli-Lebanese war were resumed immediately a cease-fire was signed. The
fact that Hezbollah achieved a partial victory against the mighty Israeli
military machine gave confidence to protesters in
The industrial action taken by the workers
resumed the the same day and rumours of an impending
all out strike began to circulate.
With a number of partial strikes taking place,
the Gereral Federation of Trade Unions (PGTU) began
to prepare an all out strike of Palestinian Authority employes
for 2 September.
The strike included at its start, 37,000
teachers, 25,000 health workers, and 15,000 other public-services workers.
Mohammed Kheirallah, a
math teacher was quoted on the website, IslamOnline,
on 2 September 2006, said, “in June, after three
months without wages, we did not wish to go on strike because we did not want
to disrupt the end-of-year exams. But today, we have had enough. We want to get
paid.”
In front of the parliament there were continuous
demonstrations with thousands demanding payment of wages, unemployment benefit
and the creation of more jobs. They shouted slogans,
threw stones at building and stormed the gates until they were brutally
repressed by the riot police.
In Ramallah on the 30
August, a crowd of 3,000 people demonstrated outside a venue were Abass was meeting UN Secretary General, Kofi
Anan. The demonstrators shouted “From today there is no government anymore.
From this day on, there is no parliament anymore!” and “We have no money in our
pockets.”
This was the first general strike called and
organised from below in the territories since the PA was established in 1994.
This important fact sets it apart from all the other “general strikes” which
have been called by the PA, Fatah
or the people around Arafat. Often in the past these general strikes were
organised to further the political agendas of organisations like the PLO or Fatah.
The strike put tremendous pressure on the local
leadership of Hamas because they could not offer any
concessions to the workers. The local Hamas
leadership subsequently denounced the strike as an irresponsible act led by Fatah to destabalise the newly
elected Hamas government. A spokesperson for the Hamas administration, A’azi Khamad described the
strike as “illegitimate”. The strike was used by Fatah
and Hamas for their own political purposes but it
would be incorrect to see it as just an episode in the struggle between the two
organisations.
All the trade union leaders are connected to Fatah. The Palestinian trade union federation was formed in
the 90’s and brought existing unions together under one umbrella. The leadersship was never democratically elected and the
leadership receive their salaries from Fatah to this
day. The trade union leadership has never defended the interests of the working
class independently of the Fatah government. They
have never fought for example for the setting of a minimum wage, instead
cooperating with NGO’s and promoting ideas such as
fair trade as an alternative to workers’ struggle to improve working conditions
and wages. So while the trade union bureaucracy is supportive of the re-entry
of Fatah into the Palestinian government the same
cannot be said of the strikers themselves.
When the imperialist powers realised that the
strike might spiral out of control and trigger a civil war the European Union
decided to transfer funds to pay $340 to each striker. Inas
Abu Samra, a 33 year old English teacher and a member
of the
Abu-Samra also said
that at the beginning of the embargo against the Hamas
led Palestinian Authrority, the Palestinians were united in their support of the
government. Without wages, she said that the population had survived on food
coupons and on humanitarian aid but, “We have decided that enough is enough.
The PA promised that we will feel a change in our economic situation. But what
has happened? The situation only got worse!”
A 26-years-old teacher from
When the strike began, the government declared
that it had been a failure and the most of the schools were working. They used
the fact that one third of all schools in the
But in contrast to the propaganda broadcast on a Hamas run radio station the strike was a huge success. More
than 90% of the PA workers on the
The strike on the
“We are not against the government, even if we
disagree with it. But we have suffered from the lack of wages for seven
months”, said Nidal Khader,
a police officer who took part in the demonstration (AP, 6 September 2006).
The demonstrators stormed the parliament, throw
stones at it, and smashed windows and doors. Their attempt to occupy the
building was blocked by policemen who were not on strike. In the same day, 30
of the employees in the Prime Minister’s office demonstrated in
The strike is an important event because of the
independent class action undertaken by the Palestinian working class. It
erupted because of their refusal to endure more suffering. The pressure on the
local Hamas leadership was such that they agreed to
partial –payment of unemployment benefits even before the strike erupted and
agreed to provide free education with optional contributions from those parents
who can afford it.
Less than a year ago the local Hamas leadership spoke about the possibility of an Intifada against the PNA. Now it is starting to understand
that they themselves could be the target of such an event. The government is in
negotiations with the strikers and it looks possible that the conflict will
come to a negotiated end. The political direction is towards the formation of a
unity government. This will fail in the long run, as
such a government will be unable to solve even the basic problems of the
masses.
The Palestinian masses need a new political
formation based on the class interests of the workers. Such a formation could
break with the current social order and for example take over the Jordanian
banks who collaborated with the
It could also appeal to Jewish workers and the
poor in
The national elites, Palestinian or Israeli, have
no answer to the needs of the masses and no program capable of solving their
problems. Only a stuggle based on the working class
and class unity can defeat the occupation and capitalist inspired poverty.
Organising a mass struggle requires building
popular committees in the Territories, the foundation of an independent
workers' party representing the oppressed layers in society and the
transformation of the trade unions into a militant and democratic force.
The temporary end of military occupation, doesn't
remove the threat of reinvasion, as the latest examples in the Gaza Strip and
in south