The decision dramatically changes the policy on foreign workers in Israel regarding five critical issues:
- A permanent halt to employment of Palestinians in Israel: After 7 months of “temporary halt,” it is now clear that there is no date for a return to work of these workers. The result means distress and frustration for more than 150,000 breadwinners, who support hundreds of thousands more in the West Bank. The resulting socioeconomic crisis in the Palestinian Authority has serious security implications that officials have been warning about for months. The Government ignores the fact that on the ground, tens of thousands of workers defied the ban and had returned to their work in ways that are illegal or semi legal and thus, instead of moving to organize and regularize the situation the decision will push for more chaos in the job market.
- Expansion of the number of corporations allowed to import workers from abroad: Until the decision, about 40 corporations were allowed to do this. The decision doubles their number, while declaring an intention to increase it even more. Experts suspect that this expansion would crush the ability to monitor the work of these corporations, opening the door to corruption and human trafficking.
- Approval to import workers from countries that lack bilateral agreements with Israel: The former prohibition against employing workers from such countries aimed at preventing labor trafficking without proper government inspection in both countries – the sending country and Israel as a receiving one. By cancelling this prohibition, Israel authorizes corporations to import workers for extremely high ransom payments, which the workers will have to pay to obtain a work permit in Israel. In this way, the notorious Kafala (bondage) system from Qatar may enter Israel.
- Elimination of customary quotas for economic sectors and the cancellation of the former prohibition on employing foreign workers in nursing homes, cleaning industry, packing houses and other sectors. The result will be the exclusion of Israeli workers from these industries. Migrant caregivers are already allowed in without a quota. Additional 330,000 foreign workers will bring the number of foreign workers to 10% of the workforce. It will replace Israeli workers with easily exploitable foreign workers.
- Cutting off the Israeli construction industry from the Palestinian workforce, with no alternate labor source. The construction industry urgently needs skilled workers. While the government’s decision eases the legal obstacles against importing foreign workers, it does not solve the problems that have prevented their arrival from India, Sri Lanka and other countries for the last 7 months. The Association of Contractors has long been warning that it is impossible to import foreign workers in the numbers that are required, especially those with the needed skills, and that the only realistic alternative is Palestinians. Last March, the Bank of Israel also published a position paper in which it confirmed that there is no alternative except the Palestinians. The government’s decision is a slap in the face to employers and economists. It will further deteriorate the Israeli construction industry to collapse.
Over the past three decades, MAAN Workers Association has endeavored to promote a balanced policy regarding the labor market in Israel. Since early 2000s MAAN advocated for the return of Israeli Arabs to the construction industry. MAAN later became a partner in the coalition against the Wisconsin Plan, which severely harmed the vocational training system and the rights of unemployed. In its branches in Baqa al Gharbiya and East Jerusalem MAAN leads for more than two decades a major effort to encourage a proactive policy to encourage Arab women to integrate into the job market and get better education and vocational training.
For more than a decade, MAAN, together with other organizations, has been waging a struggle to regulate the employment of Palestinian workers and end trafficking in permits. In recent months, MAAN has been leading the effort to bring Palestinian workers back into the labor market.
We are concerned that increasing the number of foreign workers will severely harm Israel’s weaker working class, deepen unemployment rates, and increase exploitation.
In addition, the government’s decision means throwing hundreds of thousands of West Bank residents into poverty and despair, deepening the economic crisis and fueling the atmosphere of hatred. Beyond the harsh human toll, such a step falls into the hands of extremist forces both in the Palestinian and Israeli side who aim to nourish violent clashes. This is something that security authorities have been warning about for months.
We therefore call for the cancellation of the government’s decision and instead, the adoption of a balanced employment policy that gives priority and resources to create good paying jobs, investment in technology and vocational training and take immediate steps to allow the return of Palestinian workers to the Israeli labor market.