The letter explained that the vast majority of the Palestinian workers who had a permit to work in Israel have not been able to report at work since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. After more than 4 months, tens of thousands of them, have been left without a source of income. We understand that many of them begun procedures to officially terminate their work with their employers so that they could at least make use of the severance and pension funds deposited for them by their employers.
We note that in November 2023 we requested to allow those who would want a partial withdrawal from the pension funds in a way that would not harm their insurance sequence in the fund, if it is later decided to allow their return to work; Our request has not been answered to date.
In these days, senior security and other officials including employers are discussing the gradual return of these workers to work in Israel. Currently Palestinian workers are forced to choose between annulling their permit in order to draw their savings for the sake of bare daily existence or keeping the permit and the workplace, with no livelihood options.
MAAN and Kav Laoved requested that once Palestinians are allowed to return to Israel, their place in the quota of workers who held permits on October 7, 2023 will be reserved for them for a fixed period. This, will allow workers to resign in order to withdraw the pension funds and without fear of future loss of the permit. (The bylaws of the Pension fund requires that the savings of any worker will not be withdrawn if he\she is still working).
We note that keeping places in the quota for the veteran workers is consistent with the state’s commitment itself to prevent trafficking in Palestinian employment permits, a notorious phenomenon that is known to characterize the employment of these workers in Israel. Keeping the place in the quota will increase the chance that veteran workers will be able to continue their work with the same employers they worked for before, even if they were forced now under impossible economic difficulty to cancel the permit in order to get their savings.
Such a gesture will allow veteran workers to go back to their former employers and not fearing that new comers will pay a fortune to brokers and take their place.
We believe that implementing the proposed procedure would not only address the immediate challenges faced by the affected workers but also contribute to the overall stability and integrity of the employment system.
The letter was written and signed by Adv. Elad Kahana – Kav Laoved / Adv. Aya Bartenstein – MAAN Workers Association
