Al-Zaytouna Centre is pleased to present this peer-reviewed study, in Arabic, by Saber Ramadan, entitled “The Unified Teachers’ Movement in the West Bank: Current Situation, Dynamics and Prospects.”
The study examines the movement’s trajectories, key actors, mobilization tools, emerging identities, and patterns of collective action. It also explores its future prospects, including its potential social, political and legal legacy, while analyzing the government’s response and engagement with the movement.
Furthermore, the study situates the movement within the broader context of the Palestinian schism, the limited role of political parties, the suspension of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), and the lack of democratic practices within the political system.
| >> Click here to download: Refereed Academic Studies (3): The Unified Teachers’ Movement in the West Bank: Current Situation, Dynamics and Prospects … Saber Ramadan  (Arabic) (65 pages, 1.1 MB) |
Publication Information Arabic – Title: Hirak al-Mu‘allimin al-Muwahhad fi al- Daffah al-Gharbiyyah: al-Waqi‘ wa al-Dinamiyyat wa Afaq al-Mustaqbal (The Unified Teachers’ Movement in the West Bank: Current Situation, Dynamics and Prospects) – Prepared by: Saber Ramadan – Published in: 2017 – Pages: 65 – Paperback Copy Price: $4 – Soft Copy Price: $0.99 – ISBN: 978-614-494-010-5 |
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Introduction and Background:
Since 2007, the Palestinian political and social landscape has experienced a series of interconnected crises. The Palestinian schism has shaped the governmental and societal spheres, contributing to the weakening of legal and representative institutions and a decline in teachers’ conditions, as reflected in various indicators. Moreover, the popular uprising that began in October 2015 further intensified an already fragile environment marked by overlapping social and national tensions.
Against this backdrop, the “Unified” Teachers’ Movement emerged on 14/2/2016, shaped by both opportunities and challenges. The immediate trigger was a dispute over a 2.5% salary increase for teachers, following an agreement between the General Union of Teachers, the officially recognized representative body by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and government, and teachers. The dispute was further linked to demands for additional allowances introduced in 2012 to improve teachers’ living conditions.
The movement represented a new and unprecedented form of collective action in the Palestinian context, emerging as teachers’ confidence in the General Union’s ability to address their demands and provide fair solutions to their social, economic and living conditions declined. Moreover, the government’s initial failure to fulfill its commitments, coupled with the Union’s institutional stagnation, led 14 thousand teachers out of a total workforce of nearly 46 thousand to reject the agreement. They argued that the Union, under its existing leadership and structure, lacked the capacity to represent teachers and their demands, as it was perceived to be influenced by the PA and government. This dispute ultimately gave rise to what became known as the “representation crisis.”
Consequently, teachers began organizing collectively to articulate their demands through available communication channels, particularly Facebook. These efforts helped formulate initial claims that later shaped the movement’s activities, including sit-ins, demonstrations and symbolic disruptions outside the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education on Tuesdays, when Cabinet meetings were held. On these days, teachers remained present in schools while suspending regular educational activities. The movement was organized around a broader framework of collective action centered on the hashtags “#Continuing” and “#Teachers’ Dignity.”
The study examines the movement’s trajectories, actors, mobilization mechanisms, emerging identities, and forms of collective action. It also assesses its future prospects, including its potential social, political and legal legacy, its significance as a distinctive protest experience, and the government’s response to the movement. Furthermore, it situates the movement within the broader context of the Palestinian schism, the limited role of political parties, the suspension of the PLC, and the democratic shortcomings of the political system. Given the nature and evolution of the Palestinian political entity (the PA), as well as the dominance of a revolutionary and national struggle-oriented outlook during the leadership of President Yasir ‘Arafat, whose charismatic authority shaped the broader political environment, sustained social movements of the kind that emerged in February 2016 had not previously developed in the Palestinian context.
Within the education sector, strikes had historically followed a different pattern, making the emergence of an organized, demand-based social movement particularly difficult. However, with the increasing influence of political and institutional frameworks, alongside new approaches to managing the conflict with the occupying power under President Mahmud ‘Abbas, government sectors, including education, became increasingly shaped by political dynamics linked to the Palestinian schism. Consequently, professional and social demands became a central arena of contention with the PA, having previously been overshadowed by ongoing confrontations and uprisings against the occupying power.
Ghassan Zaqtan highlights a similar argument, stating: “This is no longer merely a trade union protest. It moved beyond that stage when teachers rejected the agreement concluded between union leadership and the government, exposing the significant gap between the union’s leadership and its grassroots base, a persistent and evident structural problem…”
This gap represents a central source of tension among the three main actors: teachers, the General Union of Teachers, and the PA. It therefore requires systematic analysis to understand its causes and to identify mechanisms for advancing teachers’ demands within the broader social context. Such an analysis should also examine previous historical strikes to better understand their dynamics and the political contexts in which they unfolded, while highlighting differences in the movement’s internal organization and broader environment. This includes the prolonged and intermittent strikes of March 1997, 1998–1999, 2000 and their resumption in May 2000. Against this backdrop, the study raises a key question: why did the teachers’ demand-based and union movement fail to fully achieve its objectives and gradually lose momentum despite its initial effectiveness and influence? It further examines how such social movements can sustain themselves, succeed and contribute to broader social and political change, particularly within a context that combines elements of national liberation struggle with those of a quasi-state structure.
Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations, 23/5/2016
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