Palestinian public school teachers back on strike

Palestinian public teachers declared that they are going back on strike on Tuesday, less than a week after suspending their two-month-long strike.

The "Independent Teachers Movement", the non-official body running the Palestinian public teachers' strike in the occupied West Bank, said in a statement on Tuesday that the teachers' strike was back on because the solution presented by the Fatah faction was "dead before it was born".

In late April, the Teachers Movement accepted an initiative to end the strike, presented by the Palestinian faction Fatah's central committee, pledging to fulfil the teachers' demands by January 2024. The demands include payment of an already-agreed raise of 15% and the formation of an independent union body.

حراك المعلمين: نتيجة لعدم التزام الحكومة بدفع الخصومات للمعلمين نعلن استئناف الاضراب ابتداء من يوم غد باستثناء التوجيهي pic.twitter.com/fsxHtdBEk9

— Jmedia (@Jmediaps) May 8, 2023

However, the agreement to end the strike included the booking of punitive deductions made on teachers' salaries as of the current month of May. Teachers' salaries in the first week of May were paid without restoring the punitive deductions.

The Palestinian education ministry said in a statement that the payment of the amounts deducted during the strike was delayed for "technical reasons" and is going to be paid in the coming week.

Palestinian Teachers Continue Strike in Spite of PA Government Threats https://t.co/WE1Hp5JOIb via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/qWKIMefmCz

— Ramzy Baroud (@RamzyBaroud) March 21, 2023

The Palestinian public teachers' protests began in 2016 with a general strike against working conditions and poor salaries, with tens of thousands of teachers across the occupied West Bank participating.

The protest quickly evolved into a movement for union rights after the official government-dependent teachers' union signed an agreement on behalf of teachers' which didn't satisfy their demands.

#Palestinian #teachers' #strike marks major rift between public and PA: https://t.co/KcJZWvy6ce via @Mulder_Em pic.twitter.com/9PbKZSpbXI

— Al-Shabaka الشبكة (@AlShabaka) March 13, 2016

During the 2016 strike, teachers began to demand free elections in the official teachers' union and then escalated to demand the right to form an independent new union organisation.

The demand was finally agreed upon by the Palestinian government last year, along with a salary raise of 15%, following a two-month-long strike. Teachers' declared a strike in early February after not receiving the praised raise or the authorisation for the union. The public teachers' movement has been described as the largest Palestinian social movement in recent years.