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Israel does not allow Palestinian workers to pass through Israeli checkpoints unless they obtain permission from the Israeli military.
Israeli authorities have begun freezing labor permits for about 80,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, according to Israeli media reports.
“Israel’s Civil Administration, part of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, has begun freezing nearly 80,000 work permits for Palestinian workers from the West Bank,” Anadolu Agency reported on Thursday, citing Israel’s public broadcaster.
Israel has been preventing West Bank workers from entering the Israeli labor market since Tel Aviv launched a genocidal attack on Gaza on October 7 last year.
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Jerusalem Post Reported The Civil Administration “held a meeting on Thursday to discuss policies and procedures for bringing Palestinian workers into industrial areas and settlements in the West Bank.”
This was a follow-up to a January meeting which was “designed to review whether any changes had been made since the last discussion.” Council leaders claimed at the time that “they have an obligation to admit approved workers into their areas.”
The report said that last month it was revealed that the Civil Affairs Department “continues to issue tens of thousands of employment permits to West Bank workers.” In addition, the department has begun renewing work permits issued before October 7.
“Clear rules”
The Civil Administration “is a body set up by the military to carry out civil and security policy,” the newspaper said, citing its website. The Civil Administration is “the executive body of the Israeli military leadership in the West Bank.”
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“This means that when a police officer stops a worker and finds that his license is invalid, he can arrest him,” the newspaper quoted Lt. Col. Moran Haddad, head of the Civil Coordination Department, as saying at a meeting announcing the freeze on employment permits.
He reportedly continued: “The issue of freezing licenses should be resolved. Employers have clear rules, including pick-up and drop-off points from crossing points to work areas. If a worker leaves the approved area, he commits a crime – the Israeli police will deal with him. The procedure is the same for private employers.”
The newspaper further quoted Israel’s KAN news agency as saying that the freeze on work permits will “last until the government decides to lift the blockade of Palestinian cities and villages in the West Bank.”
Source of income
According to Anadolu Agency, before the Gaza War, more than 170,000 Palestinians worked in Israel, becoming an important source of income for the Palestinian economy.
Israel does not allow Palestinian workers to pass through Israeli checkpoints unless they obtain permission from the Israeli military.
Israel’s Finance Ministry previously estimated that the absence of Palestinian workers in construction, agriculture and industry resulted in losses of 3 billion shekels ($840 million) per month, Anadolu Agency reported.
Tensions have been high in the West Bank since October 7, leading to death toll More than 500 Palestinians and arrest More than 9,000.
(PC, Anadolu Agency)
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