WIDE PARTICIPATION AS GENERAL STRIKE ENTERS FIFTH

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