Introduction
Since 1967 the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has imposed many restrictions on the Palestinian economic sectors. These restrictions have been to reduce the freedom of movement in the operational capabilities of the Palestinian economy and Palestinian employment, especially the agricultural and industrial sectors. The Israeli occupation has not only enforced such ongoing, oppressive restrictions but has further pursued a range of discriminative policies aimed at but not limited to confiscating land and prevention the Palestinian people from accessing and utilizing their natural resources.
These restrictions and policies have led to the demise of many productive sectors and high unemployment rates. The existence of the illegal Israeli settlement project in the West Bank and its need for continuity and prosperity was an alternative job opportunity for the Palestinian workers. The project forced workers into Israel and into settlements which increased the proportion of Israeli imports into the Palestinian territories because of the decline in the size of the productive sectors.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), in 2019, the number of Palestinian workers inside Israel and illegal settlements was approximately 130,000, most of whom worked in the construction field, where they constituted about 64% of all workers. It is estimated that of these workers, only 71% have permits. The Labour Force Survey Results of 2019 also revealed that the unemployment rate [68% for females and 35% for males] was the highest among youth graduates aged 19-29 years old.
In this article, we will review local history and the most important challenges facing the Palestinian worker; how the impact of working in the occupied interior and illegal settlements has an impact on their lives, their families, and the Palestinian economy.
Palestinian Workers Since 1948
Since 1948 the life of the Palestinian worker has been contingent on early morning hours of preparations and difficult checkpoints. To this day, thousands of workers still gather from the city of Bethlehem and Hebron at Checkpoint 300, located north of the cities. Without obtaining a work permit and security approval from the occupation authorities, workers cannot legally cross the barrier. Each security approval requires verified information such as the worker’s age and marital status. If it appears a worker has been involved in a political activity related to the rights of the Palestinian people, the worker is denied permission; blacklisted until further notice. "Israeli NGOs consider that many of the workers whose names have been blacklisted do not pose a real threat to security." (3)
The goal of these restrictions has been to reduce the freedom of movement in the operational capabilities of the Palestinian economy and Palestinian employment, especially the agricultural and industrial sectors.
Security approval is not the only factor to obtain a permit; a job application (is this a contract?) from a contractor to work is also needed. Many contractors take advantage of the Palestinian worker's need for this request, and many contractors refuse to provide workers with the needed document until after deducting part of his salary; taking advantage of the worker’s vulnerable position charging an amount between $500-700 per month, which is collected illegally.
Mustafa, one of the workers I spoke to regarding his experience of crossing Checkpoint 300, mentions the following: s
“The checkpoint is very crowded, and there are thousands of workers trying to cross at the same time to reach their workplace; there is a lot of scrambles due to overcrowding, and the pressure is high. I feel like I can’t breathe. I try to stand on tiptoes so that I can breathe better. I feel that my life will end at any moment due to this crowding and scramble. After crossing, I sit for a few minutes trying to get back to normal.”
As for workers who do not have permits, also known as (“smuggled workers-A reference to the way workers go to work without a permit-”), their journey to work is characterized by humiliation, suffering, and fear. These workers walk for hours each day until they crossover and reach their place of work.
With the Israeli Military in a position to kill, a worker without a permit is at risk of death, arrest, or injury at any moment. They go to work in unsafe and risky environments, without guarantees or rights, and with the high financial costs of the transit process. These workers without permits to help avoid these dangers of crossing take up a place of residence and confined accommodations in the workplace. They reside for an extended period, exceeding weeks to several months and leaving behind their community and families.
These contractors who employ and exploit the workers without permits pay lower wages compared to workers who have permits. In addition, the costs incurred by employers for workers without permits are far less compared to the others, such as not being obligated to pay insurance and compensation dues or any other entitlements to the workers. The worker does not benefit from legal protection or any of the social guarantees if the worker suffers an accident, work injury, or damage while at his place of work, the worker will be thrown into the Palestinian territory area and does not entail any obligations on the employer or the occupation government.
In a conversation with my friend Muhammad, a young father of three, we spoke about his journey to work as a construction worker without a permit. He talked to me about how he gets up at 2:00 A.M., leaves his place of residence in the city of Beit Sahour, and travels to the village of Al-Walaja, West of Bethlehem. Here he walks with others, still in the dark, a few hours into the mountains so they may reach the Israeli areas. At this point, there is a driver in a yellow-tiger vehicle — an Israeli car — waiting for them. These drivers are always without a license and without insurance and paid 450-600 Israeli shekels in case they are arrested on the road.
After one previous confrontation with the Israeli army, where Muhammad was chased beyond the crossing and broke his foot, he now sleeps at his workplace for up to several weeks.
Many Palestinian workers contribute to professions such as construction and cleaning; many Israelis choose not to work in these fields. According to the laws of the Israeli occupation, the Palestinian worker with a permit is considered a legitimate employee, leading one to believe that the Palestinian worker will be equal with an Israeli worker in all legal aspects.
However, the lived experience is different for many Palestinian workers because the policies and legislation established by the occupation were primarily by its intention, discriminatory. Never was it intended to achieve equality.
“Five different types of deductions are deducted from the wages of Palestinian workers in Israel: income tax, health insurance, union membership, retirement, and national insurance. The Palestinian worker pays the same tax rate as the Israeli, but the Palestinian worker does not receive the same services, as national insurance covers Palestinian workers in the event of their injury in an accident, the bankruptcy of the employer, or only maternity leave.” (Page 29) “ Other social security forms, such as unemployment compensation, additional retirement payments, child assistance, health insurance, etc., Palestinian workers are not eligible for them because they are forms of security contingent on “residence” in Israeli territory.”
The Reality of Palestinian Workers in Illegal Israeli Colonies
International law recognizes that humanitarian law must be applied to the occupied territories, which include the West Bank and Jerusalem. International law states that it is not permissible to change the facts on the ground or transfer the citizens of the occupying country to the occupied areas, where they are classified as illegal acts, in addition to IHL prohibiting the occupation from exploiting these areas for political purposes or civil needs, including the building of colonies. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention expressly indicates that population transfer is a war crime according to the Rome Statute.“Five different types of deductions are deducted from the wages of Palestinian workers in Israel: income tax, health insurance, union membership, retirement, and national insurance. The Palestinian worker pays the same tax rate as the Israeli, but the Palestinian worker does not receive the same services, as national insurance covers Palestinian workers in the event of their injury in an accident, the bankruptcy of the employer, or only maternity leave.” (Page 29) “ Other social security forms, such as unemployment compensation, additional retirement payments, child assistance, health insurance, etc., Palestinian workers are not eligible for them because they are forms of security contingent on “residence” in Israeli territory.”
From 1967 until now, the occupation has illegally built more than 200 colonies and outposts on the lands of the West Bank, indifferent to the international law that criminalizes this act. Thousands of Palestinians work in these colonies. In those areas, however, the occupation authorities deliberately allow workers without permits for the sake of trying to speed up the pace of construction and expansion and the need for cheap labor.
With the Israeli Military in a position to kill, a worker without a permit is at risk of death, arrest, or injury at any moment.They go to work in unsafe and risky environments.
Ibrahim, one of the workers in the Beitar Illit colony, West of Bethlehem, which is built on the land of a Palestinian village called Husan, talks about his work experience after he obtained a work permit in November of last year.
“I was working in a bakery and a place for sweets, the employer was an Israeli colonizer, and he kept mistreating (us) …I could not continue working in that place, I was intentionally insulted without reason, maybe because I am Palestinian, a few days later I decided to leave work there.”
Ibrahim’s adds his daily wage was $50, a much lower wage than the Israeli employees.
The construction of the apartheid wall and the illegal colonies killed the last chance of a two-state solution. It is no longer possible to build a Palestinian state because the Israeli occupation has torn the lands of the West Bank and turned them into small population centers separated from each other to facilitate control. In addition to the transfer of approximately 800,000 colonizers to these areas — building settlements, stealing land, looting natural resources, restricting population movement, and other colonial policies have turned the archetype of the Palestinian into a servile who is physically and psychologically tired.
Working for Israeli companies inside the Palestinian territories: circumventing normalization
Israeli companies have recently started to follow a new model of business that targets Arab markets. This model relies mainly on the Palestinians to deliver services, where Israeli companies are the main provider of services in the shadows.
Palestinian companies play the role of a mediator or a contractor in transferring services to those markets. Workers are then treated accordingly to the Palestinian law in terms of wages and rights. This is a way of hopscotching over the livable wages and benefits an Israeli worker employed by an Israeli company would be expected to receive. This model has brought many benefits to many Israeli companies, such as more significant revenue and fewer costs and obligations.
One of the most prominent Palestinian companies working in this capacity is the Rawabi Tech Hub, owned by Bashar Al-Masry, founder of Rawabi. This company works in the software field and co-operates with the Israeli company, Start-up Nation; in turn, these tech companies work to connect technology and provide greater access in high-potential markets.
The contract between Rawabi Tech Hub and Startup Nation provides an opportunity to access the Arab markets through a Palestinian front. In addition, Rawabi Tech Hub employs Palestinian programmers not without transparency in knowing if the productivity will serve the Israeli occupation or one of its branches, such as the army, its ministers, or its intelligence.
The BDS movement had a clear position in this regard. The organization condemned these practices and made it clear that they are normalizing practices that seek to benefit the occupation from cheap labor to serve and sustain the occupation project. The organization also called for confronting the Palestinian companies that co-operate with the occupation, such as Rawabi Hub Tech, Honey Company, and others. The movement also called for a boycott of Palestinian technology companies involved in normalization and pressure to withdraw their licenses, in addition to calling for an end to the presence of Israeli companies in the Palestinian labor market and fighting the concept of economic peace through which the occupation seeks to legitimize its existence.
Palestinian workers during Covid 19
The long closure of the West Bank has raised the unemployment and poverty rate very dramatically, many Palestinians have lost their jobs because of this pandemic, and many other Palestinians working in the occupied territories were unable to work because of the closure of military barriers. Since the closure period, the occupation authorities compensated those affected. However, the Palestinian worker was excluded from this compensation, despite the majority of these salaries contributing to income tax in Israel.
The rise of the coronavirus presented new challenges and procedures. Many Palestinian workers were granted permission to sleep in Israel; however, Bethlehem workers were excluded from this decision. The new procedures also did not include the guarantee of protection or health care for a worker in case they were infected with the virus. Palestinian workers were in difficult circumstances, surrounded by dangers as the epidemic was spreading widely in Israel. What followed was Palestinian workers being left or abandoned at checkpoints if they were infected by the virus or suspected of being infected. These racist and discriminative policies increased frustration and angered Palestinian society. The voice of the Palestinian community called for workers to return to their homes as a result. Many workers responded to this plea, despite the threats from their Israeli employers to cancel permits if they did not return to work.
My friend Ali, a Palestinian construction worker in West Jerusalem, spoke to me about the difficulties of working amidst the spread of the virus. He said there was no possibility of social distancing between workers.
Conclusion
I find parallels in the stories I hear from the Palestinian people to that of the narrative of Jesus Christ, The Via Dolorosa — it is a long road full of hardship, humiliation, and torment. Palestinians live and work in
