The first in a planned series of lawsuits was filed by workers from the rehabilitative geriatric hospital “Hod Amal” in Ma’ale Adumim who are represented by MAAN. The suit was filed by employee H.G., who has worked at the hospital for the past seven years.
The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, which came into effect on Wednesday, November 27, marks the end of the war in Lebanon. If it holds, a period of reconstruction will begin, bringing a dramatic increase in the need for workers in the construction sector. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Palestinians are waiting for the government to allow them back into construction sites in Israel. Thousands of contractors are also desperate for skilled labor, reporting that the foreign workers they have managed to recruit are too few and insufficiently trained.
On October 6, 2024, the verdict of the Jerusalem Regional Labor Court (presided by Judge Rachel Berg Hirshberg) was published, concerning a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former employee of the “Maya Food Industries Ltd.” factory in Mishor Adumim (Area C of the West Bank).
For years, Israel’s olive harvest has relied on 10,000 Palestinian workers (usually some 3000 families) from the West Bank who receive permits to work in Israel in the season. The sector employs these workers each year to pick tens of thousands of tons of olives from September to December, in groves stretching from the Negev to the Upper Galilee.
Three complaints were filed early August against an Israeli lawyer from Be’er Sheva, alleging that he illegally charged Palestinian workers from the West Bank thousands of shekels and traded work permits in Israel.
In light of the total lockdown on the entry of Palestinian workers since the beginning of the war, two major labor organizations in Israel adopted a negative stance towards the return of Palestinian workers to their work in Israel.
MAAN joined other groups in filing a petition to the High Court of Justice against the Israeli government, demanding that authorities be held accountable to prevent the extreme exploitation of migrant workers, which could reach conditions of actual slavery. The petition, filed July 18th warns of the destructive impact of massive and unregulated importation of workers on the overall Israeli labor market, the severe harm to Palestinian workers’ ability to earn a living, and the expected damage to the Palestinian economy and regional security. The petitioners accuse the government of making these fateful decisions in secrecy.
Wednesday, May 15, the Israeli government approved a structural reform on employment of migrant workers where it allowed a ceiling of 330,000 overseas workers in the Israeli job market. MAAN sees this decision as a step that defies all economic logic, contradicts labor market planning, and opens the way to a dangerous expansion of human trafficking for labor purposes in Israel. In addition, the decision reflects complete disregard for the consequences of the continued halt in employment of Palestinians.
From now on, Palestinian Authority residents who work in Israel or Israeli settlements will be able to access their personal area on the website of the National Insurance Institute (NII), submitting claims and documents as their Israeli counterparts can.
An Introduction by Assaf Adiv, Executive Director of MAAN, to the Briefing at the EU premises with foreign delegations March 11th – in Tel Aviv
