Nine months after the announcement of the permit regime reform that regulates the entry of Palestinian construction workers into Israel, nothing has changed and the workers continue to suffer from the greed of permit brokers.
On Monday, September 13, the Knesset Committee for Foreign Workers, chaired by MK Abtissam Maraana (Labor), held a meeting to discuss the situation of construction workers. Advocate Michal Tadjer of Kav Laoved reported on the progress of the reform, based in part on field research by Kav Laoved last April. Tadjer emphasized that since the implementation of the reform in December 2020 there has been no change: the broker chains are still publicly announcing the sale of permits, and no one is taking measures against them. Workers who want to work in Israel are still forced to pay NIS 2,500 every month for a permit.
A representative of the Civil Administration, which is responsible for issuing permits to Palestinians, confirmed at the meeting that despite the reform, it does not anticipate that the phenomenon of permit brokers will be eradicated. Notable in her remarks was the absence of any reference to legal or enforcement measures taken by the authorities against these offenders. She added that the phone application that was supposed to allow Palestinian workers to communicate directly with employers in Israel is not yet active, and she failed to commit herself to a date for its operation. According to an announcement in Dec. 2020, the app was supposed be available in July 2021; it was promised that its activation would greatly facilitate the connection between workers and employers, neutralizing the power of intermediaries.
What clearly emerged from the committee meeting is that the authorities have no plan and no intention to fight the injustice from which tens of thousands suffer.
MAAN Workers Association expressed doubts about the reform’s effectiveness from the first moment. Our position has been that as long as entry permits are conditioned on approvals from employers, the dependence on brokers will continue. The only solution that guarantees a halt to trade in permits is the abolition of the permit regime. We continue to call for releasing workers from this oppressive system, opening the labor market unconditionally.
