The complaints, submitted by two workers and MAAN Workers Association, to the Population and Immigration Authority, which oversees the employment of Palestinian workers and prohibits the trade of permits. A similar complaint was submitted to the Ethics Committee of the Israel Bar Association in the Be’er Sheva district.
The two workers, residents of the Palestinian Authority from the Hebron area, approached the lawyer in 2019 after hearing that he could assist them in finding employment in hotels in the Dead Sea region. According to the complaint, the lawyer demanded that they sign a commitment to pay him 600 shekels monthly as a condition for obtaining the job. Additionally, they were required to sign a 10,000 shekel promissory note, which the lawyer could enforce against them if they stopped making the monthly payments.
The workers were indeed employed for a long period at a hotel in the Dead Sea area and were on the payroll of this hotel. At a certain point the hotel management advised them to stop the payments to this lawyer, as the Hotel took charge of arranging the permits (renewal of permits is required for citizens of the PA every 6 months). According to the workers a manager in the hotel also informed them that the payments to this lawyer were illegal.
However, when the workers ceased payments, the lawyer initiated enforcement proceedings against them, resulting in the garnishment of their wages, amounting to approximately 13,000 shekels. This sum was added to the 6,000 shekels each worker had already paid during their first year of employment—totaling around 20,000 shekels pocketed by the lawyer, who allegedly acted without legal authorization to engage in labor “mediation”.
The workers sought assistance from MAAN after their wages were already garnished. MAAN assigned them a lawyer to challenge the enforcement proceedings and demanded the return of the unlawfully collected funds. This case is currently ongoing in the Be’er Sheva Magistrate’s Court. Meanwhile, the complaints were also filed recently with the Population Authority and the Bar Association’s Ethics Committee.
It is worth pointing out that Palestinian workers have been subjected for years to extortion by intermediaries who illegally sell work permits for thousands of shekels per month. The trade in permits has become widespread, involving around 60,000 workers before the recent war, according to the Bank of Israel. In recent months, and in light of the war in Gaza, the number of Palestinian workers in Israel has drastically decreased. However, it is expected that after the war ends, these workers, who are desperately needed for the Israeli economy and from their part are heavily reliant on the Israeli job market, will return. In such a case, we can also expect a mass recurrence of trade in permits.
MAAN stood by these workers in their pursuit of reclaiming the money unlawfully taken from them. Filing such an action by Palestinian workers requires determination and resilience. Together with the workers, MAAN is calling to investigate and punish the lawyer. Should disciplinary and criminal measures be taken against him, it would help curb the operations of brokers who exploit workers without contributing anything to the economic chain. It is time for the authorities to put an end to this unacceptable practice.
Palestinian Workers
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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.
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