Democratic Palestine : 17 (ص 19)
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- Democratic Palestine : 17 (ص 19)
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will only enjoy full rights when the ter-
ritories are annexed (Al Hamishmar,
January 24, 1985).
A few statistics give a picture of the
effects of the Israeli economic crisis on
the West Bank in terms of the labor
force. A study by the ILO in the spring
of 1985 indicated a 30-40% unemploy-
ment rate. A survey by the Progressive
Workers Bloc in early 1985 showed that
wages had declined by 30% since
October 1984. The Zionist claims
about higher pay in ‘Israel’ fail to take
into account a series of other variables
which affect the standard of living. For
example, in periods when the Israeli
government attempts to doctor the
economic crisis by constant devaluation
of the shekel, the West Bank worker
must still pay rent and other expenses in
Jordanian dinars - a very stable cur-
rency. In the period from 1983 until
April 1985, this meant roughly halving
the wages of many workers in the occu-
pied territories (Al Fajr, May 24, 1985).
In an article entitled «Palestinian
Women Workers in the Israeli-occupied
Gaza Strip», Journal of Palestine Stu-
dies, Winter 1985, Susan Rockwell
comments on the crisis’s effects on Gaza
workers: «While wage labor in Israel
has both reduced unemployment in
Gaza to about one percent and raised
living standards, these short-term gains
have been eroded by the importation of
Israeli inflation and the consistent
devaluation of the Israeli shekel. Living
standards in the occupied territories, for
example, have not risen as fast as they
have done in Jordan. Israel’s soaring
inflation affects the Arab population of
the occupied territories much more than
it does Israelis due to the lack of an
equivalent system of compensation to
low-income families through national
insurance.»
FURTHER
MARGINALIZATION
One might think that less Palestinians
from the occupied territories find work
in ‘Israel’ now, due to the Israeli need to
cut unemployment among Jewish citi-
zens. This is not the case however,
because Palestinians perform low-level
jobs now distained by Jewish workers.
Instead there has been a rise in illegal
workers from the territories, i.e., fur-
ther marginalization of their status.
Referring to the early eighties, the Jeru-
salem Post, January 7, 1986, noted: «...
while the number at work under the
Employment Service’s auspices has
indeed fallen by more than 10,000, the
total number of residents of the territo-
ries employed in Israel has grown by
15,000. Market forces have thus been
free to drive up ‘illegal’ employment,
which according to official statistics
stands at more than half the total.»
In January 1985, a new regulation
went into effect whereby Palestinian
workers from the 1947 occupied terri-
tories need a special permit to work in
‘Israel’, on the order of the Employment
and Defense Ministries. (Previously this
permit was only needed for those who
stayed overnight.) Clearly this was
intended to discipline Palestinian wor-
kers who can now be arrested for lack-
ing a permit, rather than to stop illegal
employment. Six months later, the
Knesset Interior Committee was pre-
sented with estimates that 40-50,000
Palestinians from the occupied territo-
ries sleep in Tel Aviv nightly without
work permits and in unsanitary condi-
tions. (The latter is to put it mildly -
employers often lock ‘illegal’ workers in
sheds for the night). Rather than redu-
cing the employment of slave labor from
the territories, in order to limit unem-
ployment among Jews, the tendency is
to further marginalize the Palestinian
workers.
@
Zionist Occupation Policy
ett
@ i!
Palestinian home demolished by the Israeli occupation forces
Since the Zionist occupation of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip in June of
1967, the Israeli forces have destroyed
15,365 homes, arrested 300,000 Pales-
tinians and imprisoned 4,950.
The Jordanian Ministry of Occupied
Territories Affairs has done a statistical
study that was published on May 29th in
the Jordanian daily Saut Al Shaab. The
study said that the biggest number of
expulsions of Palestinians since 1972
occurred last year. At the same time
there were more and more repressive
measures, such as town arrests, etc. The
study also pointed out that deportees
consisted of individuals and groups,
such as the whole Nuseirat clan (250
people) that was expelled to Jordan.
Concerning Arab prisoners in
‘Israel’, the study showed that 4,950 of
them were sentenced for legal reasons
and 3,500 for security reasons. Last year
seven prisoners were killed, three died of
illness, and one hundred and forty are in
solitary confinement and under strict
supervision.
The study also noted that 300,000
Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip were arrested and imprisoned last
year. 1,000 out of 3,500 prisoners are
sentenced to twenty years or more. The
study also mentioned that the adminis-
trative detentions practiced by the
Israelis are a violation of the legal prin-
ciple that requires a fair trial before
punishment.
It was also mentioned in the study
that the Zionist authorities have blown
up a total of 1,420 homes since 1967 in
the West Bank, and 13,945 homes in the
Gaza Strip in the early seventies, as part
of their plan to eliminate the refugee
camps.
IRON FIST
The Kuwaiti paper Al Qabas
published that in a period of six months,
the Zionist authorities had expelled 50
Palestinians. Three hundred others were
put under administrative detention for
six months without any reason other
than the authorities’ fear that they
might conduct violent acts in the future.
The same source recently published a
special report from the West Bank. The
report said that during the same period,
the Zionist authorities had demolished
over 10,000 Palestinian homes in the
Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron (AI Khalil)
and Gaza districts. In addition, the
authorities sealed over 50 homes in dif-
ferent camps. Over a hundred homes
were evacuated and confiscated for the
benefit of settlers. 20,000 dunums of
land were confiscated in the districts of
Bethlehem, Nablus, Jericho and Khan
Younis. @
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