7 may 2014
Bank of Palestine, Ramallah
Palestinian public sector workers received their salaries, on Tuesday, signaling the backing down of Israel from a threat to impose sanctions as peace talks began to collapse, last month.
Palestinian public sector workers received their salaries on Tuesday, signaling the backing down of Israel from a threat to impose sanctions as peace talks began to collapse last month.
Israel had said on April 10 that it would withhold funds after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a series of international human rights as the U.S.-backed peace negotiations were ending with no breakthrough, and as Israel refused to release political prisoners as previously agreed.
Palestinian officials said the payment reflected Israel’s decision to transfer more than $100 million in customs duties it collects on goods headed to Palestinian-run areas through the border crossings it controls.
The money accounts for approximately two-thirds of the Palestinian budget and is key to keeping its public sector functioning and maintaining stability in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel had said it would dock payment of over $100 million, a figure which it said the Palestinian government owed Israel in utility bills.
Speaking last week, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah told reporters that Israel would be paying the near-usual monthly amount of 450 million shekels ($130.3 million) and only deducting 20 million shekels ($5.8 million) as part of a loan taken out by a previous Palestinian government.
Palestinian public sector workers received their salaries, on Tuesday, signaling the backing down of Israel from a threat to impose sanctions as peace talks began to collapse, last month.
Palestinian public sector workers received their salaries on Tuesday, signaling the backing down of Israel from a threat to impose sanctions as peace talks began to collapse last month.
Israel had said on April 10 that it would withhold funds after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a series of international human rights as the U.S.-backed peace negotiations were ending with no breakthrough, and as Israel refused to release political prisoners as previously agreed.
Palestinian officials said the payment reflected Israel’s decision to transfer more than $100 million in customs duties it collects on goods headed to Palestinian-run areas through the border crossings it controls.
The money accounts for approximately two-thirds of the Palestinian budget and is key to keeping its public sector functioning and maintaining stability in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel had said it would dock payment of over $100 million, a figure which it said the Palestinian government owed Israel in utility bills.
Speaking last week, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah told reporters that Israel would be paying the near-usual monthly amount of 450 million shekels ($130.3 million) and only deducting 20 million shekels ($5.8 million) as part of a loan taken out by a previous Palestinian government.
Palestinian children inside the Lod city protesting an Israeli decision to evict them
An Israeli thinktank revealed that more than 50% of the Arab population inside ‘Israel’ is living below the poverty line. The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel said the poverty rate among the ‘Arab-Israeli residents –who hold a Palestinian and an Israeli citizenship- has reached its highest level in 35 years.
The report worried about the surge in poverty rate and the bad socio-economic conditions inside the Israeli state, comparing to that of other developed countries of the world, as they suffered from bad medical care, education and work.
20% of the Arab population was not able to purchase food, while 33% had to reduce their home heating or cooling costs, the report indicated.
About one-sixth of them could not buy their medicine or pay for medical treatment, while 21% could not pay for dental care.
As for education, the report pointed out that the Arab students' achievement had improved over the past few days but still not enough compared to the rest of the world-developed countries.
The Arab workers suffer bad conditions such as working more hours compared to the other countries.
The health sector witnessed a decline in the number of qualified doctors and nurses.
The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel is an independent, non-partisan, socioeconomic research institute based in occupied Jerusalem..
An Israeli thinktank revealed that more than 50% of the Arab population inside ‘Israel’ is living below the poverty line. The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel said the poverty rate among the ‘Arab-Israeli residents –who hold a Palestinian and an Israeli citizenship- has reached its highest level in 35 years.
The report worried about the surge in poverty rate and the bad socio-economic conditions inside the Israeli state, comparing to that of other developed countries of the world, as they suffered from bad medical care, education and work.
20% of the Arab population was not able to purchase food, while 33% had to reduce their home heating or cooling costs, the report indicated.
About one-sixth of them could not buy their medicine or pay for medical treatment, while 21% could not pay for dental care.
As for education, the report pointed out that the Arab students' achievement had improved over the past few days but still not enough compared to the rest of the world-developed countries.
The Arab workers suffer bad conditions such as working more hours compared to the other countries.
The health sector witnessed a decline in the number of qualified doctors and nurses.
The Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel is an independent, non-partisan, socioeconomic research institute based in occupied Jerusalem..
Two Palestinian fishermen were injured late Tuesday when fishing boats collided after being fired upon by Israeli warships off the coast of Gaza City, witnesses said.
Witnesses told Ma'an that fishermen -- members of the al-Bakr family -- were taken to al-Shifa hospital for treatment and the boats were seriously damaged.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said she was not familiar with the incident.
In the Oslo Accords, Israel agreed to a 20-nautical-mile fishing zone off Gaza's coast but has imposed a three-mile limit for several years, opening fire at fishermen who strayed further.
Israel has controlled Gaza waters since its occupation of the area in 1967, and has kept several warships stationed off the coast since 2008.
There are some 4,000 fishermen in Gaza. According to a 2011 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross, 90 percent are poor, a 40 percent increase from 2008 resulting from Israeli limits on the fishing industry.
Witnesses told Ma'an that fishermen -- members of the al-Bakr family -- were taken to al-Shifa hospital for treatment and the boats were seriously damaged.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said she was not familiar with the incident.
In the Oslo Accords, Israel agreed to a 20-nautical-mile fishing zone off Gaza's coast but has imposed a three-mile limit for several years, opening fire at fishermen who strayed further.
Israel has controlled Gaza waters since its occupation of the area in 1967, and has kept several warships stationed off the coast since 2008.
There are some 4,000 fishermen in Gaza. According to a 2011 report by the International Committee of the Red Cross, 90 percent are poor, a 40 percent increase from 2008 resulting from Israeli limits on the fishing industry.
4 may 2014
More than 70 hay trucks blocked a main road in Tubas in the northern West Bank protesting fines they receive from custom agents when they bring lauds of hay from Israel to the West Bank.
One of the drivers, Marwan Ibrahim, told Ma’an that more than 70 drivers blocked the main road and started an open strike.
The strike, he said, includes abstention from bringing cargos of hay from Israel because custom agents who patrol the road keep giving drivers fines up to 1,500 shekels. He highlighted that custom agents demand that drivers bring a clearing tax receipt . Drivers say they should bring only invoices.
“A driver profits only 200 shekels out of each load, and in return custom agents give them a fine of 1,500 shekels,” added Ibrahim. He said that drivers try their best to support Palestinian farmers.
One of the drivers, Marwan Ibrahim, told Ma’an that more than 70 drivers blocked the main road and started an open strike.
The strike, he said, includes abstention from bringing cargos of hay from Israel because custom agents who patrol the road keep giving drivers fines up to 1,500 shekels. He highlighted that custom agents demand that drivers bring a clearing tax receipt . Drivers say they should bring only invoices.
“A driver profits only 200 shekels out of each load, and in return custom agents give them a fine of 1,500 shekels,” added Ibrahim. He said that drivers try their best to support Palestinian farmers.
Minister of Awkaf and religious affairs in Gaza Dr. Ismail Ridwan said that Qatar vowed to pay the sum of five million dollars as a donation to the Palestinian social conciliation fund that is to be established as part of the reconciliation agreement. He was quoted by the official Rai news agency as saying on Saturday night that the pledge was made during a telephone conversation between premier Ismail Haneyya and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad.
Ridwan appreciated the Qatari initiative and its constant support for the Palestine cause and national reconciliation, adding that Sheikh Tamim said he would exert efforts to secure financial support for the upcoming consensus government.
Ridwan appreciated the Qatari initiative and its constant support for the Palestine cause and national reconciliation, adding that Sheikh Tamim said he would exert efforts to secure financial support for the upcoming consensus government.
2 may 2014
Jewish Israeli vandals, on Wednesday, slashed the tires of eight cars belonging to Palestinians in Nazareth City and occupied the historical city of Acre, where they painted religious symbols on buildings, there.
According to local media, settlers punctured the tire of a car owned by a Palestinian contractor from ‘The Industrial Zone’ of Nazareth, before painting the Star of David on it.
Nazareth is classified as of the Israeli-controlled Area C territories, which are about 61 percent of the occupied West Bank, according to Al Ray.
A recent World Bank report states that Israeli control of this largest area of the West Bank deprives the Palestinian economy of an estimated $3.4 billion a year.
The Industrial Zone has seen more than 5 settler attacks this month. Seven other cars, in different neighborhoods, were also violated in Acre city.
According to local media, settlers punctured the tire of a car owned by a Palestinian contractor from ‘The Industrial Zone’ of Nazareth, before painting the Star of David on it.
Nazareth is classified as of the Israeli-controlled Area C territories, which are about 61 percent of the occupied West Bank, according to Al Ray.
A recent World Bank report states that Israeli control of this largest area of the West Bank deprives the Palestinian economy of an estimated $3.4 billion a year.
The Industrial Zone has seen more than 5 settler attacks this month. Seven other cars, in different neighborhoods, were also violated in Acre city.
1 may 2014
Editorial -May 1st 2014 – A look at the labor offices and social affairs centers is enough testimony to the growing problems of unemployment in Austria and Europe, and more importantly, to the disintegration of society. Streets and public parks have all but been turned into venues for unemployed, vagrants, “migrants”, to socialize. Native Europeans, especially women, can no longer walk or simply sit in the parks and enjoy the quite.
Even walking in the streets of Vienna as a woman is an invitation to harassment, and this city was not that way ten years ago. The negative influences on Austrian society by unbridled immigration of unskilled labor, criminals and skimmers of the social system, massive and growing unemployment due to bad policies of politicians increasingly perceived as incompetent, can be seen and felt everywhere.
It is not only the sexual harassment, it is the pervasive filth in a once clean city, it is the encroaching intolerance of do-gooders who only favor the least worthy and capable by expropriating resources from the remaining productive segments of society, it is the growing and spreading discontent of the native Europeans who see their once prosperous countries converted into dumping grounds for the riff-raff of the world, it is the unrelenting rise in unemployment and worsening economic conditions caused by politicians whose perceived incompetence borders on the criminal. All this and more is best portrayed by the massive influx of Africans and people from areas of conflict such as the countries of the so-called Arab Spring: contrary to the statements of the politicians, who force these people into the EU, this group of immigrants brings no skills, are unproductive, are unwilling to integrate into society in any discernible way and are deeply hateful of everything European or Christian, as exemplified by a recent rash of destruction of historical churches in Vienna and several Austrian provinces – among the muslims who enter Europa, I am ashamed to say, are mostly ignorant and bigoted religious extremists and among the black arrivals can be found a great number of mercenaries who took part in the “Arab Spring” and members of criminal gangs.
Austrian nationals see these conditions as far beyond tolerable and many find it unbearable to witness what Austria has become. Austrians do no longer feel in comfort or safety in their homeland and look increasingly askance at the policy of open borders forced upon them by the European Union and local politicians who are described as traitors by the people, a policy that has milked them economically and given them nothing but problems in return.
Although the official reports claim that the economic situation in Austria is “stable” and “in much better shape than other countries of the European Union”, the facts on the ground disagree with these lies. The politicians, for example, are covering up that the work offices transfer tens of thousands of unemployed people into useless “courses” managed by companies (or rather, blood suckers) which are organized in cartels acting across the EU and are owned in several instances by israelis, facts which are hidden from view by complicated legal constructions. The implementation of these “courses” costs the EU (ultimately the taxpayers) billions of Euros, as can be seen in the contract and subvention lists published by the EU itself. In these “courses”, the unemployed are often treated like criminals, are forced to sit through sessions of brainwashing, are forced to apply to menial jobs which have nothing to do with their previous career or abilities, or are offered sessions in subjects like “tolerance” or “feminism” in lieu of laboral capacitation. This appears to be what the current minister of social affairs once called “necessary de-capacitation”.
Some “neat” side effects of this disgraceful business is that the unemployment statistics look better, and, that the bulk of the contracts are awarded to companies of said profile, to the detriment of legitimate businesses which are not organized in the mentioned trans-European cartels.
On Workers’ Day we ring the bell in the EU before it is too late.
Workers Day: No Cause for Celebration for Palestinians Working in Israel
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem) issued Wednesday a press statement decrying Israel’s mistreatment, humiliation of Palestinian workers and denying them their basic rights.
May 1 1014, marks International Workers’ Day. For Palestinian workers, there is not much cause for celebration: the day is a painful reminder that another year has gone by and nothing has changed. Palestinians are still denied basic rights, including the right to earn a living without risking their lives. The West Bank has been under Israeli military rule for nearly 47 years.
As the occupying power, Israel is responsible for the well-being, dignity and livelihood of West Bank residents. Yet it acts in contravention of international law, exploiting natural resources in the West Bank for its own needs and those of Israeli settlers, while ignoring the needs of the Palestinian population. These resources – largely in Area C, which is under full Israeli control – include quarries, water sources, land for agricultural or industrial development, and tourist attractions. A case in point: even as Israel prevents Palestinians from developing modern and potentially more profitable agriculture by denying them access to most of the Jordan Valley as well as to most of its water, it allocates land and much water to settlements so that they can develop such agriculture.
This policy is a major underlying cause for the absence of an independent Palestinian economy, which could provide sufficient and profitable work opportunities for all or most Palestinians in the West Bank. In the present economic situation, the only option available to tens of thousands of Palestinians for earning a living is work within Israel, either with a work permit from Israeli authorities or illegally.
Israel has strict criteria for the approval of work permits and issues no more permits than the number fixed in an occasionally revised quota. The current (March 2014) quota is 47,350 work permits for Israel and the settlements; most of the quota has been utilized.
Workers with permits may enter Israel by one of eleven designated checkpoints throughout the West Bank. In June 2013, B’Tselem staff visited the Tarqumya and Eyal Checkpoints, through which Palestinians with work permits enter Israel. We found harsh conditions of overcrowding, long lines, and cases of humiliation during inspection. On Sundays, the number of Palestinians crossing through both checkpoints peaks at 4,500. The workers and their belongings are scanned with a metal detector. Then, they move on to stations where personnel check their fingerprints and their papers, including their entry permits. Some individuals are sent for an additional inspection procedure, which is at times humiliating. Although both checkpoints open at 4:00 A.M., hundreds of laborers arrive hours earlier, in the middle of the night, concerned they will not reach their workplaces in time due to the long lines and the chance of being sent for additional inspection. Despite the throngs of people waiting to cross, not all eight inspection stations are regularly staffed.
B’Tselem reported these findings to the head of the Land Crossings Authority at the Ministry of Defense whose office responded by saying that there are no long lines and no overcrowding at checkpoints. B’Tselem’s field researchers returned to Tarqumya Checkpoint on 1 September 2013 to and documented that fact that nothing had changed: many workers arrive at the checkpoint soon shortly after midnight and by the time it opened, at 3:30 A.M., the line was extremely long. Palestinians at the checkpoint also reported being sent for additional inspection procedure in designated rooms that are overcrowded and have neither seating nor any air conditioning. Read more here. Tens of thousands of Palestinians whose applications for work permits have been denied, or who do not meet Israel’s strict criteria to begin with, are forced to try and enter Israel without a permit. Estimates of the number of Palestinians working in Israel without permits range from 15,000 to 30,000. Israeli authorities do not offer a systemic solution to the problem, and prefer to deal with random individual cases.
Every now then, soldiers are sent out on missions to “capture illegals”, involving the arrest, injury, and rarely even death, of people who are not considered a threat even by the security establishment. According to current (31 March 2014) figures provided by the Israel Prison Service, 1,424 Palestinians – including 22 minors – are being held in Israeli prisons for illegal entry into the country.
For Palestinian workers who regularly enter Israel illegally to earn a living, life is a constant struggle for survival and returning home safe and sound from work cannot be taken for granted. They live in constant anxiety, fearing arrest or injury. In such a reality, labor rights such as a minimum wage, reasonable work hours, and a pension scheme seem like a distant dream.
I.’A., a 46-year-old floorer by trade, told B’Tselem field research Musa Abu Hashhash on 25 April 2014 what it’s like to work in Israel without a permit:
Work without a permit means endless suffering, worry and fear from the second I leave home. I leave early in the morning, at the beginning of the week, and head to the [Separation] Barrier in the Ramadin area in the South Hebron Hills. From there I enter Israel with other laborers. Usually, I have to wait near the barrier for hours, until I’m sure it’s safe. There’ve been times when I waited a whole day but finally had to go back home and miss a week of work. Every trip to work costs me 100 shekels [approx. 30 USD], which are split between the Palestinian who drives me to barrier and the Israeli driver who takes me from the barrier to Beersheba [in Israel].
Once I reach my workplace, I make sure not to leave it. I stay in Beersheba for a week or two at a time. At the end of each work day, I stay on site with the other laborers. We have to sleep in rough condition in unfinished buildings, on the floor, with no electricity or bathroom. We never go out so that the police won’t catch us. If we need to buy something, one of us goes carefully to a grocery store. Mostly, we eat tinned food. Sometimes, we have to move from one building to another to sleep, so we won’t be caught in a police raid. It’s happened – and more than once – that the police raided the place we were in and we escaped.
The contractors who hire me know that I don’t have a permit to enter Israel and use that to exploit me. They pay me only about 250 shekels a day [approx. 80 USD] and when I tell them it’s too little when taking my experience into account, they tell me I have no choice because I have no permit. I’ve also had times when my employer wouldn’t pay me at the end of the month and threatened that if I insisted on getting the money, he’d report me to the police. I have five little children and my wife works as a nurse. If I had a work permit, I could go home every day and help out with the kids. I worry because I’m so far away from them and I try to talk to them on the phone at least once a day.
Israel must enable the development of a Palestinian economy in the West Bank to provide decent work opportunities for the local population. Until that development is realized, Israel must issue permits to Palestinians wishing to work in Israel – based on appropriate security checks – and must ensure workers’ rights are upheld.
Even walking in the streets of Vienna as a woman is an invitation to harassment, and this city was not that way ten years ago. The negative influences on Austrian society by unbridled immigration of unskilled labor, criminals and skimmers of the social system, massive and growing unemployment due to bad policies of politicians increasingly perceived as incompetent, can be seen and felt everywhere.
It is not only the sexual harassment, it is the pervasive filth in a once clean city, it is the encroaching intolerance of do-gooders who only favor the least worthy and capable by expropriating resources from the remaining productive segments of society, it is the growing and spreading discontent of the native Europeans who see their once prosperous countries converted into dumping grounds for the riff-raff of the world, it is the unrelenting rise in unemployment and worsening economic conditions caused by politicians whose perceived incompetence borders on the criminal. All this and more is best portrayed by the massive influx of Africans and people from areas of conflict such as the countries of the so-called Arab Spring: contrary to the statements of the politicians, who force these people into the EU, this group of immigrants brings no skills, are unproductive, are unwilling to integrate into society in any discernible way and are deeply hateful of everything European or Christian, as exemplified by a recent rash of destruction of historical churches in Vienna and several Austrian provinces – among the muslims who enter Europa, I am ashamed to say, are mostly ignorant and bigoted religious extremists and among the black arrivals can be found a great number of mercenaries who took part in the “Arab Spring” and members of criminal gangs.
Austrian nationals see these conditions as far beyond tolerable and many find it unbearable to witness what Austria has become. Austrians do no longer feel in comfort or safety in their homeland and look increasingly askance at the policy of open borders forced upon them by the European Union and local politicians who are described as traitors by the people, a policy that has milked them economically and given them nothing but problems in return.
Although the official reports claim that the economic situation in Austria is “stable” and “in much better shape than other countries of the European Union”, the facts on the ground disagree with these lies. The politicians, for example, are covering up that the work offices transfer tens of thousands of unemployed people into useless “courses” managed by companies (or rather, blood suckers) which are organized in cartels acting across the EU and are owned in several instances by israelis, facts which are hidden from view by complicated legal constructions. The implementation of these “courses” costs the EU (ultimately the taxpayers) billions of Euros, as can be seen in the contract and subvention lists published by the EU itself. In these “courses”, the unemployed are often treated like criminals, are forced to sit through sessions of brainwashing, are forced to apply to menial jobs which have nothing to do with their previous career or abilities, or are offered sessions in subjects like “tolerance” or “feminism” in lieu of laboral capacitation. This appears to be what the current minister of social affairs once called “necessary de-capacitation”.
Some “neat” side effects of this disgraceful business is that the unemployment statistics look better, and, that the bulk of the contracts are awarded to companies of said profile, to the detriment of legitimate businesses which are not organized in the mentioned trans-European cartels.
On Workers’ Day we ring the bell in the EU before it is too late.
Workers Day: No Cause for Celebration for Palestinians Working in Israel
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B’Tselem) issued Wednesday a press statement decrying Israel’s mistreatment, humiliation of Palestinian workers and denying them their basic rights.
May 1 1014, marks International Workers’ Day. For Palestinian workers, there is not much cause for celebration: the day is a painful reminder that another year has gone by and nothing has changed. Palestinians are still denied basic rights, including the right to earn a living without risking their lives. The West Bank has been under Israeli military rule for nearly 47 years.
As the occupying power, Israel is responsible for the well-being, dignity and livelihood of West Bank residents. Yet it acts in contravention of international law, exploiting natural resources in the West Bank for its own needs and those of Israeli settlers, while ignoring the needs of the Palestinian population. These resources – largely in Area C, which is under full Israeli control – include quarries, water sources, land for agricultural or industrial development, and tourist attractions. A case in point: even as Israel prevents Palestinians from developing modern and potentially more profitable agriculture by denying them access to most of the Jordan Valley as well as to most of its water, it allocates land and much water to settlements so that they can develop such agriculture.
This policy is a major underlying cause for the absence of an independent Palestinian economy, which could provide sufficient and profitable work opportunities for all or most Palestinians in the West Bank. In the present economic situation, the only option available to tens of thousands of Palestinians for earning a living is work within Israel, either with a work permit from Israeli authorities or illegally.
Israel has strict criteria for the approval of work permits and issues no more permits than the number fixed in an occasionally revised quota. The current (March 2014) quota is 47,350 work permits for Israel and the settlements; most of the quota has been utilized.
Workers with permits may enter Israel by one of eleven designated checkpoints throughout the West Bank. In June 2013, B’Tselem staff visited the Tarqumya and Eyal Checkpoints, through which Palestinians with work permits enter Israel. We found harsh conditions of overcrowding, long lines, and cases of humiliation during inspection. On Sundays, the number of Palestinians crossing through both checkpoints peaks at 4,500. The workers and their belongings are scanned with a metal detector. Then, they move on to stations where personnel check their fingerprints and their papers, including their entry permits. Some individuals are sent for an additional inspection procedure, which is at times humiliating. Although both checkpoints open at 4:00 A.M., hundreds of laborers arrive hours earlier, in the middle of the night, concerned they will not reach their workplaces in time due to the long lines and the chance of being sent for additional inspection. Despite the throngs of people waiting to cross, not all eight inspection stations are regularly staffed.
B’Tselem reported these findings to the head of the Land Crossings Authority at the Ministry of Defense whose office responded by saying that there are no long lines and no overcrowding at checkpoints. B’Tselem’s field researchers returned to Tarqumya Checkpoint on 1 September 2013 to and documented that fact that nothing had changed: many workers arrive at the checkpoint soon shortly after midnight and by the time it opened, at 3:30 A.M., the line was extremely long. Palestinians at the checkpoint also reported being sent for additional inspection procedure in designated rooms that are overcrowded and have neither seating nor any air conditioning. Read more here. Tens of thousands of Palestinians whose applications for work permits have been denied, or who do not meet Israel’s strict criteria to begin with, are forced to try and enter Israel without a permit. Estimates of the number of Palestinians working in Israel without permits range from 15,000 to 30,000. Israeli authorities do not offer a systemic solution to the problem, and prefer to deal with random individual cases.
Every now then, soldiers are sent out on missions to “capture illegals”, involving the arrest, injury, and rarely even death, of people who are not considered a threat even by the security establishment. According to current (31 March 2014) figures provided by the Israel Prison Service, 1,424 Palestinians – including 22 minors – are being held in Israeli prisons for illegal entry into the country.
For Palestinian workers who regularly enter Israel illegally to earn a living, life is a constant struggle for survival and returning home safe and sound from work cannot be taken for granted. They live in constant anxiety, fearing arrest or injury. In such a reality, labor rights such as a minimum wage, reasonable work hours, and a pension scheme seem like a distant dream.
I.’A., a 46-year-old floorer by trade, told B’Tselem field research Musa Abu Hashhash on 25 April 2014 what it’s like to work in Israel without a permit:
Work without a permit means endless suffering, worry and fear from the second I leave home. I leave early in the morning, at the beginning of the week, and head to the [Separation] Barrier in the Ramadin area in the South Hebron Hills. From there I enter Israel with other laborers. Usually, I have to wait near the barrier for hours, until I’m sure it’s safe. There’ve been times when I waited a whole day but finally had to go back home and miss a week of work. Every trip to work costs me 100 shekels [approx. 30 USD], which are split between the Palestinian who drives me to barrier and the Israeli driver who takes me from the barrier to Beersheba [in Israel].
Once I reach my workplace, I make sure not to leave it. I stay in Beersheba for a week or two at a time. At the end of each work day, I stay on site with the other laborers. We have to sleep in rough condition in unfinished buildings, on the floor, with no electricity or bathroom. We never go out so that the police won’t catch us. If we need to buy something, one of us goes carefully to a grocery store. Mostly, we eat tinned food. Sometimes, we have to move from one building to another to sleep, so we won’t be caught in a police raid. It’s happened – and more than once – that the police raided the place we were in and we escaped.
The contractors who hire me know that I don’t have a permit to enter Israel and use that to exploit me. They pay me only about 250 shekels a day [approx. 80 USD] and when I tell them it’s too little when taking my experience into account, they tell me I have no choice because I have no permit. I’ve also had times when my employer wouldn’t pay me at the end of the month and threatened that if I insisted on getting the money, he’d report me to the police. I have five little children and my wife works as a nurse. If I had a work permit, I could go home every day and help out with the kids. I worry because I’m so far away from them and I try to talk to them on the phone at least once a day.
Israel must enable the development of a Palestinian economy in the West Bank to provide decent work opportunities for the local population. Until that development is realized, Israel must issue permits to Palestinians wishing to work in Israel – based on appropriate security checks – and must ensure workers’ rights are upheld.
Over 700 Palestinian workers sustained injuries from accidents on the job in 2013, the Palestinian minister of labor said Thursday marking May Day.
Ahmad Majdalani said 20 workers died and 752 workers sustained injuries.
The labor ministry, he added, has taken legal procedures against work places which do not observe the internationally accepted standards of safety.
The minister confirmed that 5,913 cases of legal procedures against work places which breached safety regulations were made and some places were shut down. Many others received official warnings, he maintained.
But the secretary-general of the Palestinian federation of trade unions, Haydar Ibrahim, also told Ma’an that official efforts to maintain security and safety standards were insufficient. The ministry of labor, he said, is responsible for the safety of workers along with employers, trade unions and workers themselves.
Ibrahim urged the ministry to regularly carry out inspection visits on a daily basis at work places and to take procedures against those who violate safety regulations.
In addition, employers and employees across the West Bank should be invited to join workshops to teach them the best ways to avoid work accidents, he suggested. Ibrahim highlighted that labor ministry inspectors do not conduct enough inspection visits to work places because they are not well-equipped. The ministry, he added, has very few vehicles available to inspectors to use for visiting work places.
Director of safety and health department of the ministry of labor Firas Abu Hamad urged workers to boycott any facilities which do not observe safety regulations. Construction workers, he said, are the most vulnerable. They should demand adequate clothes, shoes, helmets and other safety equipment from their employers.
May Day is celebrated internationally to honor workers around the world.
The Palestinian Authority as well as most nongovernmental organizations in the occupied territories give employees the day off.
Surprisingly, however, most manual laborers do not have a holiday on their day in Palestine. Construction workers, agriculture workers, factory workers and others usually go to work regularly on May 1 each year.
Ahmad Majdalani said 20 workers died and 752 workers sustained injuries.
The labor ministry, he added, has taken legal procedures against work places which do not observe the internationally accepted standards of safety.
The minister confirmed that 5,913 cases of legal procedures against work places which breached safety regulations were made and some places were shut down. Many others received official warnings, he maintained.
But the secretary-general of the Palestinian federation of trade unions, Haydar Ibrahim, also told Ma’an that official efforts to maintain security and safety standards were insufficient. The ministry of labor, he said, is responsible for the safety of workers along with employers, trade unions and workers themselves.
Ibrahim urged the ministry to regularly carry out inspection visits on a daily basis at work places and to take procedures against those who violate safety regulations.
In addition, employers and employees across the West Bank should be invited to join workshops to teach them the best ways to avoid work accidents, he suggested. Ibrahim highlighted that labor ministry inspectors do not conduct enough inspection visits to work places because they are not well-equipped. The ministry, he added, has very few vehicles available to inspectors to use for visiting work places.
Director of safety and health department of the ministry of labor Firas Abu Hamad urged workers to boycott any facilities which do not observe safety regulations. Construction workers, he said, are the most vulnerable. They should demand adequate clothes, shoes, helmets and other safety equipment from their employers.
May Day is celebrated internationally to honor workers around the world.
The Palestinian Authority as well as most nongovernmental organizations in the occupied territories give employees the day off.
Surprisingly, however, most manual laborers do not have a holiday on their day in Palestine. Construction workers, agriculture workers, factory workers and others usually go to work regularly on May 1 each year.
28 apr 2015
The Palestinian president Mahmud Abass Said Sunday that although he expects to face a difficult political and financial months, he will form a unity government with Hamas and hold a general elections, explaining that he will begin to form the new government in days. The PLO central council discussed in a close- door session the controversy issues for two days , which include dissolving the Palestinian authority , replacing it with the name of State, peace negotiations with Israeli, elections, security cooperation with Israel , and the national reconciliation.
The central council members backed Mahmud Abass decisions regarding the national reconciliation, elections and peace negations, while the issues of dissolving the Palestinian national authority , announcing the Palestinian state, and stopping the security cooperation with Israel were postponed under Abbas request.
The members discussed the political and legal impacts of replacing the Palestinian national authority with the Palestinian state under occupation.
Abbas said to the members that they could face a political and financial difficulties in the coming months as a result of signing the reconciliation pact with Hamas. He put stopping Israeli illegal settlements projects, releasing the fourth patch and demarcating the borders as conditions to reset on the peace negotiation table, blaming Israel for the failing of the negotiations.
The central council members backed Mahmud Abass decisions regarding the national reconciliation, elections and peace negations, while the issues of dissolving the Palestinian national authority , announcing the Palestinian state, and stopping the security cooperation with Israel were postponed under Abbas request.
The members discussed the political and legal impacts of replacing the Palestinian national authority with the Palestinian state under occupation.
Abbas said to the members that they could face a political and financial difficulties in the coming months as a result of signing the reconciliation pact with Hamas. He put stopping Israeli illegal settlements projects, releasing the fourth patch and demarcating the borders as conditions to reset on the peace negotiation table, blaming Israel for the failing of the negotiations.
Hundreds of Palestinian workers staged a mass sit-in at Jalama checkpoint north of Jenin on Monday morning in protest at Israeli’s debasing practices against them and all other passers-by. Eye-witnesses told PIC correspondent: “Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) are deliberately closing off the checkpoint, daily crossed by hundreds of workers heading to their workplaces and hospitals in 1948 occupied Palestine, generating an extreme overcrowding and traffic congestion around and at the checkpoint”.
Israeli occupation forces added fuel to fire as they opened the checkpoint at 5 a.m. and for five minutes only, so as to enrage the Palestinian workers and whip them up.
Hundreds of workers and civilians were brutally assaulted as they voiced their disapprovals of such malevolent Israeli misdemeanors. The Palestinian protestors were heavily beaten with IOF batons as they pushed their way through the checkpoint to reach their workplaces.
A massive sit-in was staged, as a result of the Israeli arbitrary and inconsiderate onslaughts, by the Palestinian workers, who have, unjustifiably, been denied smooth access out of or into their workplaces and other urgent amenities.
The sit-inners called on all responsible authorities to make the necessary steps so as to ensure an immediate and unconditional opening of the crossing, especially when they own all necessary legal documents and access-permits.
Israeli occupation forces added fuel to fire as they opened the checkpoint at 5 a.m. and for five minutes only, so as to enrage the Palestinian workers and whip them up.
Hundreds of workers and civilians were brutally assaulted as they voiced their disapprovals of such malevolent Israeli misdemeanors. The Palestinian protestors were heavily beaten with IOF batons as they pushed their way through the checkpoint to reach their workplaces.
A massive sit-in was staged, as a result of the Israeli arbitrary and inconsiderate onslaughts, by the Palestinian workers, who have, unjustifiably, been denied smooth access out of or into their workplaces and other urgent amenities.
The sit-inners called on all responsible authorities to make the necessary steps so as to ensure an immediate and unconditional opening of the crossing, especially when they own all necessary legal documents and access-permits.
27 apr 2014
Israel on Sunday indicated it would freeze 19 Palestinian construction projects in the West Bank in an apparent effort to impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority in response to a Hamas-PLO deal, Israeli media reported.
Yoav Mordechai, Israel's coordinator of government activities in the territories, said in a Civil Administration meeting that Israel would freeze 19 construction projects that were approved in Area C as a goodwill gesture at the start of peace talks with the PLO, the Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv reported.
Mordechai said Palestinians had started an "intifada" of illegal construction in the West Bank.
"It is our duty to apply the law on everyone including illegal settlement (outpost) construction in the West Bank," Mordechai said.
The move to freeze Palestinian construction in the West Bank would mark a third measure of sanctions against the PA since the beginning of April. On April 9, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu gave orders to Israeli officials to cut all contact with PA officials, allowing only "security coordination" to continue. The next day, Israel froze the transfer of tax revenues to the PA.
Yoav Mordechai, Israel's coordinator of government activities in the territories, said in a Civil Administration meeting that Israel would freeze 19 construction projects that were approved in Area C as a goodwill gesture at the start of peace talks with the PLO, the Hebrew-language newspaper Maariv reported.
Mordechai said Palestinians had started an "intifada" of illegal construction in the West Bank.
"It is our duty to apply the law on everyone including illegal settlement (outpost) construction in the West Bank," Mordechai said.
The move to freeze Palestinian construction in the West Bank would mark a third measure of sanctions against the PA since the beginning of April. On April 9, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu gave orders to Israeli officials to cut all contact with PA officials, allowing only "security coordination" to continue. The next day, Israel froze the transfer of tax revenues to the PA.
On Wednesday, the Fatah-led PLO and Hamas announced a national unity deal to end seven years of political division between the largest two Palestinian parties.
The deal infuriated Israel, which halted peace talks with the Palestinians and vowed other unspecified "measures" in response.
Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It has demolished at least 27,000 Palestinian homes and structures since occupying the West Bank in 1967, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.
There are some 100 settler outposts erected around the West Bank without Israeli government authorization.
Israel quietly "legalized" several outposts in 2012, according to Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now.
The international community regards all Israeli construction in Palestinian territory as illegal, whether government-approved or not.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The deal infuriated Israel, which halted peace talks with the Palestinians and vowed other unspecified "measures" in response.
Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It has demolished at least 27,000 Palestinian homes and structures since occupying the West Bank in 1967, according to the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.
There are some 100 settler outposts erected around the West Bank without Israeli government authorization.
Israel quietly "legalized" several outposts in 2012, according to Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now.
The international community regards all Israeli construction in Palestinian territory as illegal, whether government-approved or not.
More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
A Palestinian human rights organization has warned of an unprecedented economic crisis afflicting the Gaza Strip since 2013. Head of Himaya Center for Human Rights in Gaza, Mohammad Nahal, revealed during a press conference on Saturday the inauspicious upshots of the siege imposed on Gaza especially during 2013.
According to Nahal, poverty rates have gone up to 40% during 2013, including 21% estimated to fall below the poverty line, due to the siege and the closure of border crossings and tunnels by the Israeli occupation authorities and Egyptian authorities.
Nahal further reported that unemployment rates in the Strip reached 40%.
Nahal called on the Arab League to take serious measures so as to lift the siege imposed on Gaza and to smooth the access of all humanitarian aids, passengers and goods out of and into the Strip.
Egyptian authorities continue to close the Rafah crossing, which is only partially opened before some humanitarian cases. This has led to a remarkable decline in the number of passengers from 8,444 travelers per day to 250 only, in the wake of the shutdown decision.
Data revealed Egyptian authorities limited free travel to those with residence permits abroad and foreign passport holders, urgent medical cases, and students.
27% of the essential drug lists in Gaza’s Central Drug Store were reported at zero stock levels while 16% of another 73-essential drug-list has almost reached zero levels. Several patients have also been denied medical treatment abroad.
Nahal called on the Egyptian authorities to take such a critical state of affairs into serious consideration and to open the Rafah crossing with no further delay so as to allow the unconditional access of goods and passengers out of and into the Gaza Strip, as already decreed by the International Law.
Nahal further urged the UN-affiliated Security Council, the General Assembly and Human Rights Council to take the necessary steps to lift the notorious Gaza siege.
According to Nahal the international community has also to assume its responsibility vis-à-vis the siege and the arbitrary mass punishment of civilian Palestinians, in addition to a flagrant violation of the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
According to Nahal, poverty rates have gone up to 40% during 2013, including 21% estimated to fall below the poverty line, due to the siege and the closure of border crossings and tunnels by the Israeli occupation authorities and Egyptian authorities.
Nahal further reported that unemployment rates in the Strip reached 40%.
Nahal called on the Arab League to take serious measures so as to lift the siege imposed on Gaza and to smooth the access of all humanitarian aids, passengers and goods out of and into the Strip.
Egyptian authorities continue to close the Rafah crossing, which is only partially opened before some humanitarian cases. This has led to a remarkable decline in the number of passengers from 8,444 travelers per day to 250 only, in the wake of the shutdown decision.
Data revealed Egyptian authorities limited free travel to those with residence permits abroad and foreign passport holders, urgent medical cases, and students.
27% of the essential drug lists in Gaza’s Central Drug Store were reported at zero stock levels while 16% of another 73-essential drug-list has almost reached zero levels. Several patients have also been denied medical treatment abroad.
Nahal called on the Egyptian authorities to take such a critical state of affairs into serious consideration and to open the Rafah crossing with no further delay so as to allow the unconditional access of goods and passengers out of and into the Gaza Strip, as already decreed by the International Law.
Nahal further urged the UN-affiliated Security Council, the General Assembly and Human Rights Council to take the necessary steps to lift the notorious Gaza siege.
According to Nahal the international community has also to assume its responsibility vis-à-vis the siege and the arbitrary mass punishment of civilian Palestinians, in addition to a flagrant violation of the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank is weighing all possible measures to counter Israeli sanctions and restrictions, including initiating austerity measures and advancing tax collection systems, to be able to cover some of the costs needed to prevent its collapse.
The decision was made after Israel imposed sanctions on the P.A, and stopped the transfer of tax money it collects on border terminals leading to the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli sanctions came after the P.A. filed applications to join 15 international conventions and treaties, when Israel refused to release veteran Palestinian political prisoners held since the first Oslo Agreement of 1993. The release was supposed to be implemented on March 29.
Spokesperson of the Palestinian Economy Ministry, Azmy Abdul-Rahman, told the Maan News Agency that, should Israel implement the sanctions, the P.A would have to cut costs in all ministries, and increase tax collection.
He added that the P.A. usually gets around $120 Million a month, and that this amount covers 80% of monthly costs, including paying salaries, pensions and providing basic services.
“Should Israel stop the transfer, the Palestinian economy would be largely impacted”, he said.
Abdul-Rahman warned of the direct impacts of Israeli sanctions, especially since Israel has sole control on all border terminals leading to the occupied West Bank.
He further stated that, according to signed agreements, mainly the Paris Protocol, Israel collects customs and taxes on West Bank border terminals, and transfers them to the Palestinian Authority after deducting a 3% interest.
“Each time Israel withholds the money it violates the Paris Protocol”, he added. “Israel is blackmailing the P.A.”
Israel repeatedly withheld the money in an attempt to pressure the P.A. and force it to refrain from signing international agreements and treaties, and to oblige it continue direct peace talks while Tel Aviv continues its violations, including the ongoing construction and expansion of its illegitimate settlements.
Israel recently decided to sanction the P.A. by imposing further restrictions which could cause the already weak Palestinian economy to collapse. Some of the measures include halting the transfer of tax money, and restricting the movement and trade of Palestinian businesspersons and companies.
The recent sanctions were enforced after the rival Fateh and Hamas movements, with various Palestinian factions, signed a reconciliation and unity agreement that could lead to forming an interim unity government until general and presidential elections are held.
The Israeli Cabinet decided that Tel Aviv will not negotiate with any Palestinian government that includes Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that President Mahmoud Abbas violated standing agreements when he decided to join United Nations institutions and international treaties, and when he held a coalition with the Hamas movement.
The P.A. in the West Bank said it is committed to the political process until signing a comprehensive peace deal with Tel Aviv, but cannot continue these talks while Israel is ongoing with its violations, including ongoing invasions, assassinations and arrests, and that Israel must fully stop its illegitimate settlement construction and expansion activities.
The decision was made after Israel imposed sanctions on the P.A, and stopped the transfer of tax money it collects on border terminals leading to the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli sanctions came after the P.A. filed applications to join 15 international conventions and treaties, when Israel refused to release veteran Palestinian political prisoners held since the first Oslo Agreement of 1993. The release was supposed to be implemented on March 29.
Spokesperson of the Palestinian Economy Ministry, Azmy Abdul-Rahman, told the Maan News Agency that, should Israel implement the sanctions, the P.A would have to cut costs in all ministries, and increase tax collection.
He added that the P.A. usually gets around $120 Million a month, and that this amount covers 80% of monthly costs, including paying salaries, pensions and providing basic services.
“Should Israel stop the transfer, the Palestinian economy would be largely impacted”, he said.
Abdul-Rahman warned of the direct impacts of Israeli sanctions, especially since Israel has sole control on all border terminals leading to the occupied West Bank.
He further stated that, according to signed agreements, mainly the Paris Protocol, Israel collects customs and taxes on West Bank border terminals, and transfers them to the Palestinian Authority after deducting a 3% interest.
“Each time Israel withholds the money it violates the Paris Protocol”, he added. “Israel is blackmailing the P.A.”
Israel repeatedly withheld the money in an attempt to pressure the P.A. and force it to refrain from signing international agreements and treaties, and to oblige it continue direct peace talks while Tel Aviv continues its violations, including the ongoing construction and expansion of its illegitimate settlements.
Israel recently decided to sanction the P.A. by imposing further restrictions which could cause the already weak Palestinian economy to collapse. Some of the measures include halting the transfer of tax money, and restricting the movement and trade of Palestinian businesspersons and companies.
The recent sanctions were enforced after the rival Fateh and Hamas movements, with various Palestinian factions, signed a reconciliation and unity agreement that could lead to forming an interim unity government until general and presidential elections are held.
The Israeli Cabinet decided that Tel Aviv will not negotiate with any Palestinian government that includes Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that President Mahmoud Abbas violated standing agreements when he decided to join United Nations institutions and international treaties, and when he held a coalition with the Hamas movement.
The P.A. in the West Bank said it is committed to the political process until signing a comprehensive peace deal with Tel Aviv, but cannot continue these talks while Israel is ongoing with its violations, including ongoing invasions, assassinations and arrests, and that Israel must fully stop its illegitimate settlement construction and expansion activities.
25 apr 2014
MP Jamal al-Khudari, head of the popular committee against siege, said the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) has seized around 2000 truckloads destined for the besieged Gaza Strip in its border terminals. MP Khudari said in a statement that the seized trucks are laden with different vital needs including food, commercial, industrial and medical supplies as well as humanitarian aid provided by national and international organizations.
According to MP Khudari, the fact that the crossing had been, in some way, opened so as to allow limited access of fuel and food aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, does not imply that the humanitarian crisis has reached its final stages in the Strip.
MP Khudari called for the immediate and unconditional opening of Karam Abu Salem crossing before movement of goods.
According to MP Khudari, the fact that the crossing had been, in some way, opened so as to allow limited access of fuel and food aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, does not imply that the humanitarian crisis has reached its final stages in the Strip.
MP Khudari called for the immediate and unconditional opening of Karam Abu Salem crossing before movement of goods.