Solidariedade sindical

Since 1948, Israel has systematically confiscated Palestinian land and natural resources. As part of its regime of settler colonialism and apartheid, Israel has implemented a range of measures aimed at undermining Palestinian economic activity and development. These measures include:

• In Gaza, Israel has imposed a siege that severely limits the entry of materials and inputs for manufacturing and the export of goods.

• In the West Bank, Israel has implemented restrictions on movement, land access, water access and a range of obstacles to ensure exports are kept to a minimum.

• Across the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel deliberately undermines Palestinian agricultural production.

• Under the terms of the Paris Protocol, Israel has the final say on what Palestinians can import and export and control over many aspects of Palestinian economy activity.

Together, these measures have created a situation where the Palestinian economy is largely dependent on foreign aid and investment and on imported goods. This has a significant impact on employment and pay levels. ​

Israel’s economic siege of Gaza has led to unemployment reaching 60% - the highest rate in the world - low levels of pay and poor conditions. For example, construction workers say that on the rare occasion when they are able find work, they are paid as little as 30 shekels (just under $8) for a hard day of physical labour.

Israel’s strategy for the West Bank is to create economic dependency and exploitation. Palestinians able to find work in the in the West Bank are being left stranded in a dependent economy and face long and humiliating waits at checkpoints and complete control of their life and work by the Israeli military.

Loss of income sources and high unemployment leaves many Palestinians  in the West Bank with no option but to work in illegal Israeli settlements where pay is below the minimum wage and conditions are exploitative and often dangerous.

As many as 1,000 Palestinian children are employed in Israeli settlements at any one time, often paid as little as $18 per day to work in dangerous and exploitative conditions.

Israel regularly withholds payments of tax it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, meaning that public sector employees are often left without their salary being paid for months on end.

Palestinian citizens of Israel face systematic discrimination in the labour market. Many jobs are only open to people who have served in the military, excluding Palestinians from many jobs. Only 6.6% of Israeli state employees are Palestinian. Communications giant Bezeq employs less than a dozen Palestinians out of a total workforce of 10,000.

More than 30,000 Palestinians from the West Bank legally enter Israel each day to work while thousands more make the journey without official permission because as only a small percentage of permit requests are approved. Those who do have permissions have a gruelling work life as they must start queuing to get through an intricate set of Israeli checkpoints at around 2am.

Palestinian workers in Israel often face routine racism in the workplace. In 2004, Palestinian workers’ on a construction site near in the Israeli parliament were forced to wear helmets marked with a red X in order to facilitate their assassination by security forces in the case of emergency. ​

In photos: Palestinian workers’ everyday nightmare at Israeli checkpoints

Palestinian trade unions have long been at the heart of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality.

Palestinian labour unions played a vital role in the Great Revolt of 1936 against British rule and Zionist colonisation. Palestinian workers launched a general strike that lasted 6 months, one of the longest strikes anywhere in the world. Palestinian unions led strikes and boycotts of Israeli products throughout the first intifada.

More recently, Palestinian unions have campaigned against falling pay levels and other attacks on conditions in the Palestinian public sector.

All of the major Palestinian trade unions were signatories to the 2005 call for BDS and are members of the Palestinian BDS National Committee.

In 2011, Palestinian trade unions came together to issue an appeal for international trade unions to join the BDS movement and form the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS).   

The Histadrut is Israel’s trade union federation. The Histadrut was played a key role Israel’s early colonisation of Palestine and continues to play a vital role in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. It does this by:

• Publicly supporting Israel’s attacks on Gaza and other war crimes.

• Maintaining active commercial interests in Israel’s illegal settlements.

• Allowing Jewish Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank to join the organisation.

• Illegally withholding over NIS 8.3 billion (approximately $2bn) from wages earned by Palestinian workers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This money was deducted by the Israeli state and transferred to the Histadrut for ‘social and other trade union benefits’ that Palestinian workers have never received.

In its founding statement, the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) called on international trade unions to sever all ties with the Histadrut. A large number of trade unions have done exactly that.