Borders closed, Palestinians lose jobs as Israel looks to hire foreign workers

About 160,000 Palestinians from the West Bank working in Israel and in Jewish settlements have lost or are at risk of losing their jobs because of closed border

Dec 10, 2023 - 00:30

Borders closed, Palestinians lose jobs as Israel looks to hire foreign workers

When Taha Amin-Ismail Khalifeh dialled into a conference call with his Israeli employer last month, the Palestinian hotel worker expected a briefing on how the Israel-Hamas war was affecting business. Instead, he and 40 others were laid off.

Khalifeh, who lives in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had worked as a housekeeper in the hotel in East Jerusalem for more than 20 years.

About 160,000 Palestinians from the West Bank who were working in Israel and in Jewish settlements have lost or are at risk of losing their jobs because of the closure of border crossings from the West Bank into Israel and settlements, and restrictions on their access to Israel’s job market, according to the United Nations’ International Labour Organization.

Israel has also sent back thousands of Palestinians to the besieged Gaza Strip.

It had previously issued 18,000 permits allowing Gazans to cross into Israel and the West Bank to take jobs in sectors like agriculture or construction that had salaries up to 10 times what a worker could earn in the blockaded enclave.

Many of the Palestinians worked as day labourers in Israel, or in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and have been unable to travel to their jobs due to the closure of border crossings since Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.

Like many...