Democratic Palestine : 17 (ص 18)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 17 (ص 18)
- المحتوى
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The Palestinian Working Class
Under Occupation
This is the conclusion of the article begun in Democratic Palestine
No . 16, which gave an overview of the Palestinian working class and
unionization, then focused on Zionism’s institutionalized discrimina-
tion against Palestinian workers who are considered Israeli citizens.
Below we address the situation of Palestinians from the West Bank
and Gaza Strip, working in the Zionist state, who are hardest hit by the
economic Crisis.
As many as 100,000 workers from
the 1967 occupied territories today
commute to unskilled or semiskilled
jobs in ‘Israel’. Of those who are regis-
tered with the Israeli employment
office, the greatest numbers work in
industry and construction, followed by
services and then agriculture. «Israel is
dependent to a considerable degree on
Palestinian workers in the construction
and agricultural sectors. By 1982, a
third of the legally hired workers in each
of these sectors were Palestinians from
the territories. Workers without a
permit increase the proportion of
Palestinians still further - to as much as
60% of the total labor force for the
construction sector» Joost R. Hilter-
mann, «The Emerging Trade Union
Movement in the West Bank», Merip
Reports, Nos. 136/137, October-
December 1985).
The dominant fact about the forma-
tion of the working class in the 1967
occupied territories, is that its growth
was paralleled by a decline in local
industry and economy in general. This
situation is a direct result of the Zionist
occupation and its intertwined political
and economic motives. The Zionists
worked systematically to destroy the
Palestinian national economy in order
to deprive the population under occu-
pation of any material base for indepen-
dence. At the same time, this boosted
the Israeli economy enormously by
turning West Bank and Gaza Palesti-
nians into a captive market for Israeli
products and a cheap labor reserve for
Israeli industry. Palestinian industry
declined due to restrictions imposed by
the occupation authorities, and inability
to compete with the products of heavily
subsidised Israeli industry. Before the
occupation, industry accounted for
8.7% of gross national product in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip. By 1983, this
had dropped to 6.7% (Al Fajr, May 20,
1983).
In the West Bank, land confiscation
and depriving Palestinian farmers
of water resources played a main
18
role in pushing people to work
in ‘Israel’. Right after the occupa-
tion, 45% of the active West Bank labor
force was employed in agriculture. By
1980, only 26% were, while only 15%
were employed in local industry. Forty
per cent were employed in ‘Israel’ and
10% in Israeli projects in the West
Bank. (Sarah Graham Brown, «Report
from the Occupied Territories» Merip
Reports No. 115, June 1983). The
majority of those working in Zionist
enterprises are from the refugee camps
or rural areas. They are those most
dramatically dispossessed of land and
other means of livelihood.
Gaza industry can only absorb about
20% of the Strip’s current labor force
(Al Fajr, October 4, 1985). As of 1983,
the Israeli Labor Ministry estimated
that 34,000 Gaza Strip residents (43 % of
the work force) had jobs in ‘Israel’;
12,000 had work permits, while 22,000
worked illegally but received their wages
through Israeli labor exchanges. At least
800 were day laborers - men, women and
children who line up in the slave markets
to try for a day’s work (AI Fajr, May 20,
1983).
Most residents of the 1967 occupied
territories who commute to work in
‘Israel’ are forbidden to stay overnight.
Yet many do so anyway, to avoid the
erosion of their wages by transportation
costs. Those who commute daily must
leave their homes well before dawn and
may not return much before midnight.
Even those who work without a permit
must pay Israeli taxes and fees for social
security and health insurance - benefits
which they cannot cash in on, though
they may take 40% of their wages
(Joost, op. cit.). For those who are
registered, «the Employment Service...
deducts both income taxes (at higher
effective rates than Israelis pay) and
worker and employer contributions to
the standard state and private social
security schemes» (Jerusalem Post,
January 7, 1986). The same article
points out that minimum wage stan-
dards are not honored in overtime for
Arab workers, terming this «legal
employment for illegal wages.»
Another less visible form of superex-
ploitation is found in the Israeli use of
Palestinian labor, especially that of
women, through subcontracting and
cottage industries. Many large Israeli
companies have opened branches in the
towns and villages of the 1967 occupied
territories, and in the Galilee. Here
women do sewing, handwork or other
manual labor at way below standard
wages. The Palestinian women who
work in ‘Israel’ itself are confined to
sewing, tinning, conversion and packa-
ging industries, which are lowest on the
pay scale. Even there, they earn half that
of Jewish women doing the same work.
In addition, the Jewish women workers
work shorter hours and are eligible for
bonuses.
UNDISGUISED
EXPLOITATION
The Israelis often boast that Palesti-
nians earn higher wages in ‘Israel’ than
they would in the territories. At face
value, this is true since the occupation’s
strangulation of local industry prevents
Palestinian employers from giving suf-
ficient wages, even if they might want
to. However, a few facts about how the
Israeli economic crisis hits workers from
the territories gives a clearer picture of
the Israeli exploitation of Palestinian
labor.
The Israeli economic crisis has been
pushed most violently onto the backs of
West Bank and Gaza Palestinians.
Workers from the 1967 occupied terri-
tories are seldom classified according to
standard job descriptions by Israeli
enterprises. Besides depressing their
wages, this excludes them from being
considered permanent employees. They
receive no sick, vacation or unemploy-
ment payments. These factors combined
mean that they are the first to be fired,
without the Israeli economy paying a
cent to cushion the blow. They can also
be shuffled around into different jobs as
best suits Israeli efforts to overcome the
economic crisis, by further depressing
wages, etc.
Israeli Employment Minister Moshe
Katzav confirmed in January 1985, that
Palestinians from the occupied territo-
ries do not receive unemployment bene-
fits despite wage deductions for unem-
ployment insurance. In fact, these taxes
are passed on to the occupied territories
«development fund»), i.e., reserved for
Jewish settlers. The Minister was also
forthright in saying that these workers - هو جزء من
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