Rather than addressing this critical issue with an understanding of the needs of the construction sector and Palestinian workers, the government is choosing to look for easy targets, persecuting the few Palestinians who, out of desperation, decide to sneak through the separation barrier in search of work.
Police Cannot Solve Hunger with Arrests
In recent months, the police have allocated significant resources to high-profile arrest campaigns targeting Palestinian workers who enter Israel without permits. For instance, on Tuesday, November 19, the police arrested 32 such workers in Tiberias. The arrests were accompanied by media releases showing photos of the detained workers and closure orders on businesses that employed them illegally.
This was just one of many operations under a broad campaign likely aimed at preventing West Bank workers from entering Israel, as well as deterring their employers. According to police data, since the beginning of 2024, 10,000 Palestinians have been arrested for entering Israel without permits. This represents a massive investment of organizational and financial resources, at a time when the police are already stretched thin addressing other pressing issues, including the present war and the wave of deadly violence in Israel’s own Arab towns and villages.
Despite the police’s extensive efforts, the likelihood of this campaign’s success appears slim. Israeli employers continue to view Palestinian workers as the only viable solution to the acute labor shortages in factories and construction sites. As for the Palestinians, who have been unemployed for over a year since being barred from Israel, they are willing to risk their lives for a day’s work. The dire economic situation is clear from the numbers published by UNCTAD (UN Trade and Development). They show that West Bank unemployment has tripled during the war. The desperation of workers is starkly evident in the number of them killed and injured by the Israeli army while attempting to cross the barrier. (According to labor activists, the number of workers killed is about 40. There are no statistics on this, which reflects the utter disinterest in the workers’ plight by PA ministries and institutions. (See more in this AP report published in USA today October 2024.)
Indeed, despite reports of 10,000 arrests, security officials quoted last summer by Ynet suggest that 40,000 Palestinians without proper permits are still working at construction sites, restaurants, factories, shops, and warehouses across Israel. https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hyrfukysc
Most Palestinian Workers Pose No Security Threat
The Israel military establishment tends to see Palestinians who enter Israel for work with proper permits as a group of people who are not involved in criminal or terrorist activities. There have been exceptions, to be sure, but the numbers are very small. (See Dr. Estaban Klor research published this year that proves in numbers that workers’ involvement in terrorist activity in the last 20 years was marginal). This position did not change after Hamas’s deadly attack in October 2023. On many occasions military officials have recommended that the government allow workers to enter, though in smaller numbers. The prestigious security Think Tank INSS presented in March2024 a paper that suggested exactly that.
Instead of shutting out Palestinian workers who are normative and peaceful, it would be logical to allow them to return to their jobs under proper arrangements. However, the government refuses to address this issue, perpetuating the conditions that force workers to enter without permits.
Meanwhile, about 12,000 Palestinian workers have legally returned to jobs in settlement areas since November 2023. This disproves the argument that employing these workers poses a security risk. MAAN Workers’ Organization represents hundreds of Palestinian workers in factories and companies that continue to employ workers (in the settlement zones, as well as food factories in Atarot). MAAN remains committed to defending their rights and dignity.
No Alternative to Palestinians’ Economic Dependency on Israel
Over the past year, MAAN has led calls on the government to let Palestinians return to jobs in Israel. Simultaneously, it has become a central address for thousands of them who are in dire straits due to the lockdown, assisting with unpaid wages and issues related to the “Amitim” pension fund. For over a year, the organization has worked with authorities and employers to alleviate workers’ hardships and advocate for their return. Discussions with employers indicate that many in the Israeli construction sector and beyond respect their Palestinian workers and are eager for their return.
Unfortunately, no partners for this call have emerged on the Palestinian side—neither from the Palestinian Authority, labor unions, nor civil society organizations. The neglect of the workers’ plight and their demand to return to jobs in Israel is glaring, particularly since, until October 7, these workers were a major contributor to the Palestinian economy: in the year preceding the war, their wages accounted for 20% of the Palestinian Authority’s GDP.
With most workers sitting idle for over a year, the damage to their families and the Palestinian economy is immense. The economic agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, including the Paris Protocol from 1994 (and the economic annex of the Oslo Agreement), leave Israel as the main source of livelihood for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Despite the devastating Hamas attack that led to the lockdown, no Palestinian entity has made workers’ return to Israel a central political demand, likely due to fears that it might be perceived as “unpatriotic.”
We hope that the signing of the Lebanon ceasefire will create momentum leading to a ceasefire in Gaza as well. This would allow workers to return—not only because there is no viable alternative for them within the Palestinian territories, but also because the Israeli economy, particularly the construction sector, has found no replacement for them. Changing policy toward these workers aligns with the vision of peace and shared living between Palestinians and Israelis, a vision that remains the guiding principle of MAAN’s work.
