Abbas lends support to civil-servant strike

About 3,000 employees protested Wednesday.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Thousands of angry civil servants turned up the pressure on the beleaguered Hamas government Wednesday, marching to demand payment of overdue wages and winning Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' blessing for a major strike next week.
As the Palestinians' internal tensions simmered, fighting intensified between Gaza militants and Israeli troops searching for smuggling tunnels and explosives. At least eight Palestinians were killed in air strikes and gun battles near Gaza City.
Visiting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for an end to the fighting in the coastal strip that has killed more than 200 Palestinians since it began two months ago. He also demanded that Israel open Gaza's crossing points.
"This must stop immediately," Annan said. "I have made my feelings known in talks with Israeli officials. Beyond preserving life, we have to sustain life. The closure of Gaza must be lifted, the crossing points must be opened, not just to allow goods [in], but to allow Palestinian exports out as well."
Strike
The planned civil-service strike -- a symbol of the growing confrontation between Abbas' Fatah Party and the Hamas government -- would plunge Gaza and the West Bank deeper into chaos. The strike threat gives Abbas greater leverage in negotiations with the Islamic militant group over a unity government.
Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, of Hamas, met for an hour in Gaza on Wednesday evening and discussed efforts toward a unity government, Israel's offensive in Gaza and the Palestinian financial crisis, according to Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh.
Hamas has been unable to pay full salaries to the 165,000 government employees -- including some 40,000 teachers and 85,000 members of the security forces -- since an international aid freeze was imposed on the Palestinian government in March when Hamas came to power.
Hamas, considered a terror group by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union, has refused to accept Western conditions for restoring aid, including recognizing Israel and renouncing violence.
About 3,000 government employees marched through Ramallah on Wednesday to demand their salaries, and the civil servants' union that represents tens of thousands of teachers and health-care workers has said it would launch an open-ended strike next week at the start of the school year.
Hamas responds
Hamas says the strike is aimed at destabilizing the government and called on teachers to ignore it.
"Calls for a strike are an attempt to exploit the suffering of our brothers," Hamas said in a statement. "It is playing on their feelings for factional aims that have no relation to national interests, especially since those calling for the strike are from one political faction that has no ties with employees."
Many union leaders are members of Fatah, which held power before Hamas was overwhelmingly voted into power.
Abbas backed the unions Wednesday. "It is the employees' right to demonstrate and strike," he said.
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