Military operations and repeated lockdowns have hampered the West Bank’s economy [Getty]
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are being pushed into poverty amid rising unemployment rates and a lack of jobs, forcing them to risk crossing into Israel and seeking work there illegally.
According to The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, unemployment has now exceeded 50 percent among Palestinians in the West Bank.
With no legal avenue for work, thousands are forced to cross Israel’s separation wall, which cuts across the West Bank, into Israel through unofficial and illegal routes, risking arrest and abuse by Israeli authorities.
A crackdown on these workers in Israel has exacerbated the Palestinians’ crisis.
During the first week of July, Israeli forces reportedly arrested over 650 workers in Lod, Nazareth, and other Arab-majority towns, as the Palestinians had been working without permits.
Palestinian workers are often held under administrative detention – a practice that allows Israeli authorities to imprison individuals for months without trial and has been repeatedly condemned by human rights groups.
Other outcomes include facing criminal charges or being released upon pledging not to violate labour laws again.
Around one-third of jobs have vanished in the West Bank, affecting around 300,000 positions.
Abdelhadi Abu Taha, a member of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the latest data shows unemployment in the West Bank has exceeded 51%, or approximately 507,000 people, all of whom were in the labour market prior to October 7, 2023 – the start of the Gaza war.
He says while Israeli and foreign workers received some compensation for being unemployed during the war, Palestinian workers from the West Bank inside Israel did not.
Abu Taha says the federation, in cooperation with the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions, has taken the case to the International Labour Organization (ILO), adding that 15 legal experts from various countries were working on the case.
From a legal standpoint, Abu Taha argues that previous statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when he said that the United Arab Emirates should pay compensation to Palestinian workers, constitute an implicit acknowledgment of a financial entitlement owed to these workers.
Israel has intensified its military raids across the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war.
Its most recent assault which began in January – dubbed “Operation Iron Wall” – has seen the army storm several towns and refugee camps in the northern West Bank, displacing thousands of people and inflicting heavy damage on infrastructure.
Military operations and repeated lockdowns have hampered the region’s economy and an estimated 941 people have been killed.
On Wednesday, a majority of Israeli parliamentarians symbolically voted to officially annex the West Bank, further diminishing the prospects of a sovereign Palestinian state.
