to report «iusnews»; Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank have lost their jobs or had their salaries frozen after the Israeli authorities cancelled their work permits and imposed severe restrictions on crossings after the October 7 attacks.
Approximately 182,000 Gaza residents who work in Israel and the settlements had their employment terminated, initial estimates by the International Labour Organization (ILO) suggest, while about 24% of employment in the West Bank has also been lost – equivalent to 208,000 jobs – as a result of the Israel-Hamas war, The Guardian reported.
According to the ILO, a further 160,000 workers from the West Bank have either lost their jobs in Israel and the settlements, at least temporarily, or are at risk of losing them “as a result of restrictions imposed on Palestinians’ access to the Israeli labour market and the closures of crossings from the West Bank into Israel and the settlements”.
Alaa Mousa from Ramallah in the West Bank had been saving up for 12 years to build his family a house and was finally making it happen. During his long and tedious daily journey, passing through several checkpoints to travel to his job in Israel, the father of two would daydream about how the ground floor would look when completed. But for more than 40 days, all work on his house has come to a halt.
“I need to pay monthly instalments [amounting to] $3,000 to complete this house. I made enough working in Israel, but now my debts are piling, my family is hungry and I have no clue when this is going to end,” said the 35-year-old builder.
“The bank deducted $3,000 from my account last month, but I only managed to earn $1,000 from a side job. Instead of keeping that money to cover my kids’ needs, I deposited it in the bank to pay off some of this month’s instalments. Soon, my next instalment will be due, and the situation isn’t abating,” said Mousa, who now fears being legally persecuted.
Hani Mousa, an assistant political science professor at Birzeit University in the West Bank, said this is part of “Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians, which also extended to employees in the Palestinian Authority (PA), whose salaries were not paid because Israel did not transfer the money needed”.
Under interim peace accords, the Israeli finance minister has the final say in monthly money transfers made to the PA from taxes it collects on Palestinians’ behalf. The PA is then typically able to pay its employees, which it was not able to do in October, as Israel refused to make the full transfers.
Mousa is among thousands of Palestinian workers who held permits that granted them entry into Israel for work, generating an estimated income of about $3bln a year, but which had been suspended since October 8.
“There has never been such a tight closure on workers in past years,” said Mousa, adding, “Going in and out of Israel has always been a risky ordeal, but the money earned made it worth it, as well as some security when an accident befalls a worker. But today, we’re left with nothing, which is something I did not anticipate.”
According to the UN, the war will add considerable strain on Palestine’s already exhausted economy, and is “expected to amplify loan default risks, putting pressure on the banking sector of Gaza and of the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, and threatening financial stability”.
Despite the tension, Israel has issued temporary permits for 8,000 workers from the West Bank to cross over, as its construction, agriculture and services sectors are highly dependent on the workers. They are often made to wear trackable bracelets as they cross the checkpoints, eyewitnesses say, which they hand over daily when they exit Israel.
The UN human Rights Chief Volker Türk described the situation in the occupied West Bank as “potentially explosive”, citing rising settler attacks against Palestinians and the use of military means in law enforcement operations.
This includes restrictions on movement within the West Bank, which the ILO said affects about 67,000 workers whose work is in governorates other than their place of residence and who “face heightened difficulties in accessing their workplaces, putting them at risk of losing their jobs”. The organisation said these workers are also “likely to be subject to difficult working conditions, including lower wages. The increased numbers of checkpoints across the West Bank increasingly challenges the movement of individuals and goods, further impacting the overall economy and capacity to produce.”
Cogat, the Israeli military civil body responsible for government policy in the occupied Palestinian territories, did not respond to a request for comment.
Youssef Mefarjeh, a 26-year-old construction worker, became his family’s only breadwinner after the war began. He earns $900 a month, down from a household income of $7,000 a month before the war.
“My father and brother had work permits in Israel, but this source of income is no longer there, and it became up to me to put food on the table,” he said.
According to the ILO’s estimates, approximately 5% of workers from the West Bank who previously worked in Israel and the settlements have maintained their jobs, resulting in a total employment loss of 152,000 jobs.
“Work in the West Bank is gravely dangerous, and doesn’t pay well compared with work in Israel. But I had no other option but to power through, until the owner of the workshop I work in said he can no longer afford our salaries, or even the raw material, and had it shut down for now,” he said, explaining that the family is now relying on its savings to get by.
