Last update - 00:00 18/12/2006
Palestinian official: Government workers' strike nearing end
By Reuters
RAMALLAH - Palestinian government employees look set to return to work this week if a deal to end a more than three-month-old strike over unpaid
wages is signed on Monday, a top union official said.
Talks on the agreement will resume on Monday after a marathon session on Sunday failed to reach a conclusion.
The expected deal comes amid fears of civil war after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah called for new elections, infuriating the ruling Hamas faction and sparking new clashes. Both sides said on Sunday they had agreed a ceasefire.
Hamas took control of the Palestinian Authority in March after beating Fatah in parliamentary polls, prompting Western countries to cut off aid to the government because it is officially sworn to Israel's destruction.
Government workers have been on strike since September, demanding wages unpaid in full since Hamas came to power.
"The president has told us that the present situation is deteriorating and the Palestinians cannot endure more," the union official said.
Under the deal, workers will be given assurances from Abbas and the Hamas led government that they will receive partial salary payments within days and full wages starting next month.
The agreement will apply to tens of thousands of government workers in Gaza and the West Bank, the union official told Reuters, though the deal has not yet been signed.
When ratified, the deal will call for government workers to return to work later this week.
Last month, some 40,000 Palestinian teachers and other education sector employees returned to work after receiving similar assurances of downpayments on their salaries.
It is unclear where the money will come from to cover workers' salaries.
Hamas has said it received aid pledges from Iran, Qatar and Sudan. But that money would cover only a portion of the wage bill and it is unclear whether Israel, which controls the borders, will let the money in.
Israel prevented Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas from entering Gaza last week with $35 million in cash, although Western diplomats said the money could be redirected to Abbas to get around the sanctions.
Government offices have been shuttered as a large portion of the government's 165,000 employees went along with the protest.