Palestinian Labor
Due to high unemployment rates in the West Bank, tens of thousands of Palestinians work in Israeli settlements. According to the Manufacturers Association of Israel, some 22,000 Palestinians were employed in construction, agriculture, manufacturing and service industries. In 2010, Palestinian leaders banned the practice of working in Israeli settlements, angering Palestinians who depend on this employment. The prospect of losing Palestinian labour has forced farms in the Jordan valley to consider bringing in more workers from East Asia.
Palestinians have been highly involved in the construction of settlements in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority estimates that over 12,000 Palestinians are employed by Jewish and Arab contractors in settlement construction and expansion projects. A lack of jobs and relatively high salary has been cited as a motivation for Palestinian involvement. Arab workers are said to be paid approximately 3 times as much by Israeli contractors than Palestinian employers.
In 2008, Kav LaOved charged that Palestinians who work in Israeli settlements are not granted basic protections of Israeli labor law. Instead, they are employed under Jordanian labor law, which does not require minimum wage, payment for overtime and other social rights. In 2007, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that Israeli labor law does apply to Palestinians working in West Bank settlements and applying different rules in the same work place constituted discrimination. The ruling allowed Palestinian workers to file lawsuits in Israeli courts. In 2008, the average sum claimed by such lawsuits stood at 100,000 shekels.
According to Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 63% of Palestinians oppose PA plans to prosecute Palestinians who work in the settlements. However, 72% of Palestinians support a boycott of the products they sell.
Read more about this topic: Israeli Settlement
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