Palestinian Workers in Israel Caught Between Indispensable and Disposable

Construction and infrastructure projects in Israel, and in Israeli settlements within the West Bank, are hugely dependent upon Palestinian labor. Under a lockdown in a pandemic this means that Palestinian workers are exposed to serious health risks while helping Israel cement its control over Palest...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2020
Main Author: Garbett, Lucy
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
COVID-19
Immigration
Middle East Research and Information Project
Online Access:Request full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Construction and infrastructure projects in Israel, and in Israeli settlements within the West Bank, are hugely dependent upon Palestinian labor. Under a lockdown in a pandemic this means that Palestinian workers are exposed to serious health risks while helping Israel cement its control over Palestinian land and people. With tourism and travel effectively halted, the source of contagion for the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza is now Palestinian laborers who are propping up Israel's construction economy and agribusiness by transiting back and forth to Israel and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Two COVID-19 deaths in the West Bank are attributed to contact with Palestinians working in Israel and 75 percent of confirmed cases have been traced to these workers. The pandemic is entrenching already existing patterns of debt, surveillance, labor exploitation and Israeli control over Palestinian land and life. The current crisis further highlights the multiple ways Israeli employers, trade unions and the state exploit Palestinian laborers to bolster Israel's settler-colonial project, while cutting costs and displacing responsibility for the protection of workers onto the weak infrastructure of the Palestinian healthcare sector and economy.