Teachers strike turns violent
NABLUS, West Bank – Masked militants, trying to keep students away from school during a politically charged Palestinian teachers strike, shot and wounded a 12-year-old boy on Sunday.
Palestinian teachers began striking Saturday, the start of the school year, to demand full back pay and regular salaries from the Hamas-led government, which has been financially crippled by six months of international sanctions.
Most schools throughout the West Bank remained closed – some by force – as the strike continued.
At least three masked militants stood outside a school in the West Bank city of Nablus and fired into the air to keep children away, witnesses said.
Stray fire hit a 12-year-old boy, Issam Ghannam, in the abdomen, witnesses said.
He was in stable condition after undergoing surgery, doctors said. “He has passed the danger zone and is resting in intensive care,” said Dr. Khaled Qadiri, a doctor at Rafidya Hospital in Nablus.
The child’s family, Fatah loyalists, refused to condemn the militants. “There were unknown men with weapons, preventing the students from going to school,” said the boy’s uncle, Ghannam Ibrahim Ghannam. “They fired, and as an unintentional result of the shooting, Issam was hit.”
The strike is widely viewed as a tactic by Fatah to pressure Hamas to join it in a national unity government. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hopes the alliance will force Hamas to recognize Israel, helping end the sanctions and enabling him to renew peace talks.
Western aid cuts have left the government unable to pay full salaries to its 165,000 employees.
Some residents said they support the teachers strike, which they said proved how ineffectual the Hamas government is six months after taking office.
“If the teachers don’t get salaries, they won’t teach my children well,” said Yasser Hajir, 38, father of three children in Nablus. “If the government isn’t working for students and the government isn’t able to open schools and hospitals, it has no use and should resign.”
Other parents condemned the labor action, saying it could lead to youth crime and would damage their children’s education.
“The kids are in the streets now. There are many women who have lots of children like me, and their children are in the streets and are not learning,” said Nadia Hajj-Ibrahim, mother of five. “If the strike continues, I won’t be able to raise my children – they’ll go wild on the streets.”