Death and humiliation: The journey of Palestinian workers to Israel

Rasa - More than 15 thousand Palestinian workers from the city of Tulkarem and its neighboring villages head to al-Taibi checkpoint that separates them from 1948 Palestine to work at various jobs.

News ID: 784

Date: 13 April 2014 - 22:35

Rasa News Agency reports - More than 15 thousand Palestinian workers from the city of Tulkarem and its neighboring villages head to al-Taibi checkpoint that separates them from 1948 Palestine to work at various jobs. Israeli employers do not pay much but Palestinian workers are forced to take a chance because they need to make a living in light of the harsh economic conditions plaguing the West Bank.

The workers hold the Palestinian Authority (PA) responsible for their misery. They are not asking for the PA to provide job opportunities, but at least to play a role in organizing the passage of the workers through Israeli checkpoints and to take advantage of its cooperation with the Israeli occupation to end their humiliation. All the PA did was say, through Tulkarem’s governor, that it is following up on the difficulties faced by Palestinian workers.

Tulkarem: It’s 4:00 am. Thousands of Palestinian workers gather at al-Taibi checkpoint in front of a small gate. They want to pass into 1948 Palestine to work because there are no employment opportunities in the West Bank. They ultimately have no choice but to work in Israel or starve.

They elbow their way to reach the checkpoint before the designated time.

They ultimately have no choice but to work in Israel or starve.Everyday they go through hours of humiliation waiting to pass. After al-Taibi, they have to go through other checkpoints. Arriving at the first gate early does not mean passing first or avoiding the pushing and the shoving of the thousands there. “Many have suffered broken bones or risk being trampled. You might die if you fall in the midst of the crowd,” says Naser Soubhi, one of the workers who takes the journey nearly everyday.

Soubhi is a father of four children. He began working in 1948 Palestine more than ten years ago even though he has a bachelor’s degree. He says: “We usually arrive at 1:30 am. On Sundays, when the crowds are the largest, some workers arrive at 10:30 pm. We try to stand near the first gate to end the misery here quickly and to be on the other side of the checkpoint when our employers arrive.”

He adds: “There, the Israeli soldiers put a narrow passageway that is more like an iron cage that goes in one direction. The workers have to pass through it. Once you step in, you can not go back or stop walking because of the pushing and the shoving.”

Soubhi goes on: “There is more than one window to check the permits but the army opens only two. The soldiers manning the windows often stop to chitchat while we wait for our turn.” He continues: “The soldiers enjoy conducting their training in areas close to the checkpoint to scare us. If there is no training, they start yelling at us and ordering us around to humiliate us.”

He told us that one time, dozens of his colleagues suffocated after they were shot with tear gas canisters. “A short while back, a worker died while passing because of the stampede that the soldiers themselves caused. When you put so many people in such a small place, death becomes an expected outcome.

Adel Yaacoub, from the town of Balaa near Tulkarem, was martyred last January after suffocating from tear gas at al-Taibi checkpoint leaving behind a wife and seven children.

Since the beginning of this year, eight workers have died while working in Israel as a result of the neglect of health and safety conditions, according to the Palestinian Labor Minister Ahmed Majdalani.

Majdalani said in a statement in late March: “The increase in work-related injuries and deaths in Israel is due to the fact that Palestinians work dangerous jobs and the Israelis refuse to treat them in Israeli hospitals when they get injured.” He wondered: “Why do they get transferred to the West Bank for treatment while their condition worsens even though part of their salaries go to health care compensation?”

Sneaking-in instead of getting permits

Thousands of young Palestinian men risk their lives trying to get into Israel by sneaking in and working there without work permits. Israeli police often pursue these men and they are either arrested or shot at with live bullets if they are spotted along the border.

Ahmed (a pseudonym) has been bedridden for more than a week after his leg was broken while trying to escape from soldiers who had spotted him with others trying to sneak in near a border area. Ahmed told Al-Akhbar what happened to him: “I ran between the olive trees where I found a tractor. I tried to climb into the vehicle that the tractor was pulling and hide inside it but I fell and the tractor wheel crushed my leg. I can’t work now but thankfully I wasn’t shot.”

To work in Israel is humiliating but I have no other choice. Sometimes I find consolation in being inside 1948 Palestine, in a city inaccessible to its own indigenous population.As to why he was sneaking in, the young man in his 20s says: “Permits are only given to married men. In the past they also required that a person have a child.” He added: “To work in Israel is humiliating but I have no other choice. Sometimes I find consolation in being inside 1948 Palestine, in a city inaccessible to its own indigenous population.”

If these young men manage to get in and work, the labor of many days might go uncompensated because their Israeli employers refuse to pay them and there is no law to protect them and no one to defend them.

Hamza (a pseudonym) has a university degree. He began to work in Israel more than two years ago. He says: “They refused to pay me more than once. I can’t do anything about it.”

He goes on: “I always try to sneak in with a group of young men, sometimes through northern West Bank cities or even southern cities. Any chance we get we try to take advantage of it. When a route is uncovered we try a different one and each attempt is harder than the one before.” He continues: “For over two years, I worked hard jobs like construction and agriculture.”

Hamza also explains how he and those with him have to leave their homes at a late hour of the night to reach a point of entry. “When we cross through the hole in the barbed wire, a car that we had made arrangements with comes, usually driven by a Palestinian from the 1948 territories. In less than a minute 15 to 20 men cram inside the small car.”

He goes on: “If the soldiers find the car, they chase it and we would have to jump out of it and hide between the trees. Sometimes, the Israeli police surprise us at work and arrest us. It happened with me once.”

It is a deadly journey, whether the workers sneak in or go through a checkpoint. If death spares them on their way in, any work-related injury inside is exacerbated by not being treated promptly. Nevertheless, Palestinians insist on trying to make a living, even inside their occupied territories.

Al-Akhbar