Although the campus has been buzzing with students the two
or three times we have visited since we’ve been here, lots of lectures have
been cancelled. We were also supposed to
be going in to work with students and administrative staff at Al Quds
University, but this will not take place util after Eid celebrations next week. This is because the public sector has been on
strike over pay. It is now the third
consecutive month since the last payment from the PA (Palestinian Authority who
is in charge of public sector payments in the West Bank).
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened. One reason for the reoccurrence
is that Israel’s occupation of Palestine means that the West Bank's economy
income is linked to Israel’s economy. The direct effect of this linkage is that
the West Bank is prevented from developing its own economy that can rely only
on Palestinian businesses, factories and economic projects. The West Bank is
therefore partially dependent on the money generated from Israel’s
economic endeavours (Israel is obligated to give money to the PA
because as the occupying power they have to financially support the Palestinian
population according to international law) and since 1993 has been largely
dependent on foreign aid (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/palestinian-authority-salaries_n_1646032.html). In the wake of the current global financial crisis many
donor countries have cut back on their foreign aid agreements with the West
Bank (http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20121012139351). Additionally, Israel have significant control over how much
money is given to the PA and consequently influences the amount of money that
is available to pay public sector workers in the West Bank.
Both of these factors mean that
the Palestinian authority do not currently have the $150 million dollars
monthly they say they need to pay their public sector employees, including
state school teachers and university lecturers. Although, the effects of the
linkage of the Palestinian and Israeli economies hugely influences the money
that is available to pay state school teachers in the West Bank, questions
should also be asked about the extent to which economic corruption within the
PA influences why they are currently not paying their teachers. This is a
popular view shown by a Palestinian Public Opinion Poll conducted in June 2012;
71% of Palestinians interviewed thought that there was corruption within the PA
(http://www.pcpsr.org/survey/polls/2012/p44efull.html#domestic).
These brief considerations
highlight how the Israeli occupation of Palestine is hindering the amount and
quality of education in the West Bank.
