Why Their Is Illegal Labor Practices
Palestinians risking arrest to cross border for jobs in Israel
Palestinian workers in the West Bank town of Bethlehem stand in line next to Israel's separation barrier Sunday as they wait to cross a checkpoint into Jerusalem.
June 19, 2006
The associated press
BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- Hana Saleh's commute to work is on a rocky path that would be a picture of serenity -- except for the Israeli border guards lurking among the olive trees.
At least once a week the 19-year-old Palestinian cleaning woman is caught, detained for two hours and sent back home. But as the main breadwinner for a family of 13, she's willing to take the risk for the four other paydays.
With jobs scarce in the Palestinian areas, Saleh and thousands of others have little choice but to sneak into Israel.
It's a journey becoming more necessary and more difficult each day, as the Palestinian economy sinks and Israel builds its controversial barrier to thwart suicide bombers.
"I was caught yesterday by the border police and detained for two hours," Saleh said.
"But I had to come back again today." Her $33 a day is five times what her brother makes, when he can find a job near Bethlehem, their West Bank hometown five miles from Jerusalem.
Jobs and money in the West Bank are increasingly scarce because of a Western economic boycott and tightened Israeli travel restrictions, both in reaction to the rise to power of the militant Hamas group.
Meanwhile, Israel is accelerating construction of its barrier -- a complex of fences, walls and barbed wire -- determined to keep out Palestinian militants but also illegal workers.
The barrier will eventually encircle Jerusalem. So far only about 19 miles of the 55-mile ring has been built.
These days, Israel issues only about 11,000 work permits to Palestinians, about 15 percent of the 80,000 granted before the Palestinian uprising broke out six years ago, said Shlomo Dror, an Israeli military spokesman on Palestinian affairs.
Tens of thousands more enter Israel illegally, mostly from the West Bank, Dror said. Sneaking into Israel from the sealed-off Gaza Strip is much harder.
Israeli border patrols catch about 4,000 undocumented Palestinians every week and the number is growing, said Border Police commander Hasin Fares.
Some Palestinians have complained of beatings at the hands of the police, even after an Israeli crackdown on such behavior.
But the flow doesn't stop, in part because Israeli businesses depend on the cheap labor they get from the Palestinians.
"There is demand and there is supply, so they are coming to work," Fares said.
Palestinian workers in the West Bank town of Bethlehem stand in line next to Israel's separation barrier Sunday as they wait to cross a checkpoint into Jerusalem.
June 19, 2006
The associated press
BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- Hana Saleh's commute to work is on a rocky path that would be a picture of serenity -- except for the Israeli border guards lurking among the olive trees.
At least once a week the 19-year-old Palestinian cleaning woman is caught, detained for two hours and sent back home. But as the main breadwinner for a family of 13, she's willing to take the risk for the four other paydays.
With jobs scarce in the Palestinian areas, Saleh and thousands of others have little choice but to sneak into Israel.
It's a journey becoming more necessary and more difficult each day, as the Palestinian economy sinks and Israel builds its controversial barrier to thwart suicide bombers.
"I was caught yesterday by the border police and detained for two hours," Saleh said.
"But I had to come back again today." Her $33 a day is five times what her brother makes, when he can find a job near Bethlehem, their West Bank hometown five miles from Jerusalem.
Jobs and money in the West Bank are increasingly scarce because of a Western economic boycott and tightened Israeli travel restrictions, both in reaction to the rise to power of the militant Hamas group.
Meanwhile, Israel is accelerating construction of its barrier -- a complex of fences, walls and barbed wire -- determined to keep out Palestinian militants but also illegal workers.
The barrier will eventually encircle Jerusalem. So far only about 19 miles of the 55-mile ring has been built.
These days, Israel issues only about 11,000 work permits to Palestinians, about 15 percent of the 80,000 granted before the Palestinian uprising broke out six years ago, said Shlomo Dror, an Israeli military spokesman on Palestinian affairs.
Tens of thousands more enter Israel illegally, mostly from the West Bank, Dror said. Sneaking into Israel from the sealed-off Gaza Strip is much harder.
Israeli border patrols catch about 4,000 undocumented Palestinians every week and the number is growing, said Border Police commander Hasin Fares.
Some Palestinians have complained of beatings at the hands of the police, even after an Israeli crackdown on such behavior.
But the flow doesn't stop, in part because Israeli businesses depend on the cheap labor they get from the Palestinians.
"There is demand and there is supply, so they are coming to work," Fares said.
posted by HRM Deborah of Israel and the Messenger of Peace at 11:09 PM
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