Pollyanna Gets One Right in Gaza

Hamas Backers Replace Gaza's Teachers

The ruling Hamas movement on Wednesday replaced hundreds of striking teachers with its own supporters, purging Gaza's education system of its political rivals and deepening its control of the coastal territory.

During the takeover, Hamas routed forces loyal to the rival Fatah movement. The local teachers' union, one of the last remaining Fatah strongholds in Gaza, called its strike this week to protest the transfers of dozens of educators to new schools. It said Hamas forced the transfers to give its supporters key posts in the education system.

Hamas denied this, but then installed hundreds of new teachers almost immediately after the strike began.

"Anybody who left their job will not be allowed to return," said the Hamas education minister, Mohammed Askoul. "They have become irrelevant and cannot be trusted anymore as educators." He estimated 2,000 teachers have been replaced. About 9,000 teachers work in Gaza's public schools.

The move ensures Gaza's education system will now be stacked with Hamas loyalists. While the group has said it would not impose its strict Islamic views on society, its control of the classrooms is likely to change the tone of instruction and create more sympathy for the group's ideology among the territory's 250,000 public school students.