RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education will comply with court orders to rehire teachers fired for "security reasons" as jobs become available, the minister said Tuesday.
Lamis al-Alami said the ministry had not yet received most of the high court orders to rehire dismissed teachers.
"I received a court order on behalf of one teacher only, and I telephoned the head of the higher judicial council, who headed the high court asking him to send all the court orders," the education minister told Ma'an.
She said the cases of dismissed teachers were dealt with individually and not collectively.
In early September the Palestinian High Court ruled in favor of a group of teachers claiming wrongful dismissal by the Palestinian Authority over political affiliation.
Hamas supporters working in government jobs in the West Bank, which is governed by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, say they have been targeted amid the rivalry between the political parties.
Employees in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip have retained their salaries from the Ramallah government since the split, although they are no longer working.
Al-Alami said 750 civil servants had been sacked for "security reasons" in the West Bank over a number of years.
"We will rehire them, but currently there are no job opportunities," she said, adding that 300 employees were rehired when opportunities arose.
The ministry is rehiring dismissed teachers, even without court orders mandating their reinstatement, she said.
"We decided to rehire those teachers despite the fact that we haven't received the court orders. We decided even to rehire teachers who have not sued the ministry."
Teachers are rehired on the recommendations of the general bureau of civil servants, she added.
"They told us whether a certain employee was fit to be rehired or not, and the recommendations were based on security issues. However, we learned through the High Court order that the general bureau of civil servants was not authorized to intervene in appointments because that falls within the minister's jurisdiction."
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