Opinion Editorials, November 2004, To see today's opinion articles, click here: www.aljazeerah.info
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Palestinian Workers Get the Blues
By Ahmed Dabba
Al-Jazeerah, November 28, 2004
For the high wages they used to get through working there, Palestinian
laborers enjoyed, for decades, the facility of working inside Israel.
Things were going on right well, but since the onset of the Intifada,
Israel replaced Palestinian workers with Asian and European ones, causing
the Palestinians harsh financial conditions that have still been up in
the air.
Israel, since the start of the Intifada, placed a complete blockade on
the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), leaving thousands of Palestinian
day workers unwaged. In the light of Israel's prevention of movement to
reach workplaces, unemployment rate in Gaza raised to more than 60% and
poverty 65% by the end of the last month.
"Unemployment in Gaza has risen from 18 to 60 per cent, and in the West
Bank from 11 to 35 per cent. The number of families living below the poverty
level has increased from 26 to 65 per cent, and the figure is still rising",
said an official in the Palestinian trade union.
To thousands of Gazans, things have totally changed. As described by them,
they get the blues.
"I used to work inside Israel and used to make 2000$ a month", said Khaled
Siam 43, of Gaza, "I am out of work now and mainly depend on the UN assistance
that my family receives every month, which we have not got three month
ago because of the Israeli closure".
"I want to show you my kitchen, it is empty everything except for some
tomatoes and potatoes," said Siam, who used to bring all kinds of food
for his children before being unemployed.
Working in Gaza, if found, cannot provide Palestinian large families with
their basic needs, which caused more deterioration to the national income.
"Gazan worker's daily wage average declined from 54.6 Shekels to 52.9
Shekels", Palestinian Bureau of Statistics said.
After international pressure and due to its economic needs, Israel, sometimes,
incompletely reopens its work market to the Palestinian workers. Though,
it imposes very cruel, restrictive and inhuman measures on workers, breaking
all basic rights to work and to be humanitarianly treated.
"To get a permission to work inside Israel, one must go through tough
afflictions", a Palestinian security official revealed, "a worker applying
for work permits must be married with children and his age must be over
35 years".
Having his documents valid and complete, a worker is an easy target for
Israeli soldiers and can be killed or arrested at any moment.
According to Palestinian security sources, 13 Palestinian workers have
been killed during the last year, 22 were wounded and 9,772 others were
arrested under the pretext of not acquiring permissions to enter Israel,
of whom 308 were sentenced to imprisonment for several months, paying
inflated fines.
Getting up early, nearly at predawn, heavy-eyed Gazan workers leave homes
and head to the Erez juncture, rather fort, north of Gaza, to start the
everyday sufferings and the humiliation of Israeli teenager soldiers.
The workers wait, in crammed rows, for the order of an 18-year-old Israeli
soldier to tell them to pass or to come back.
"It depends on the mood of the soldiers" said the 55-year-old Abu Mohammed
Jaber, "we can pass if the mood of the soldiers is ok. Yesterday, I was
ordered to come back home without any reasons. When I asked the soldier
why I should go back, I was assaulted and cursed by him".
The closure and the prevention of Palestinian workers to work inside Israel
cost the Palestinian economy very heavy losses.
Losses of laborers working inside Israel were estimated at 3 milliards
US$ which reveals how harsh and cruel the financial situations of those
workers and their families are, leaving over two million Palestinians
under the poverty line.
As viewed by thousands of Palestinian workers and many analysts, the
denial of Palestinian workers access into Israel is a practice of collective
punishment aiming at killing any Palestinian hope of respectable life.
Such actions will for sure, increase the suffering of those impoverished
workers and will really make them get the blues.
Ahmed Dabba ,WAFA news agency.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04). | ||
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03). |