Ref: 43/2023
Date: 01 May 2023
Time: 10:30 GMT
Every year on May 1, the world celebrates the International Workers’ Day to commemorate the workers who died defending their rights to have a decent life for them and their families. On this occasion, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) stresses its total support to the international labor movement in its ongoing struggle to obtain their legitimate rights, particularly the struggle of the Palestinian workers over many years in light of the Israeli occupation authorities’ violations of their rights and the absence of a national system for social protection and security that preserves the workers’ rights under the deteriorating economic conditions during the past years.
The number of employed persons in Palestine reached 1,133 million; 655 thousand in the West Bank, 285 thousand in Gaza Strip and 193 thousand in Israel and Israeli settlements. Unemployed persons in Palestine reached 367 thousand in 2022 (239,000 in the Gaza Strip and 128,000 in the West Bank.) meanwhile, the unemployment rates in the Gaza Strip and West Bank are 45% and 13% respectively, and the highest rate is among youth and graduates in the Gaza Strip recording 73.9% comparing with 28.6% in the West Bank.1
2022 also witnessed ongoing Israeli violations against thousands of Palestinian workers working in Israel, as 93 Palestinian workers died in 2022 and 32 workers died during the first quarter of this year2, including 7 workers from the Gaza Strip 3who died in various work accidents due to the Israeli authorities’ disregard and negligence of safety and protection measures inside the workshops as well as the absence of real oversight over Israeli employers. Moreover, thousands of workers are deprived of their right to have health insurance, forcing them to return to their places of residence in order to receive treatment at the Palestinian hospitals after being injured during their work in Israel without the Israeli employers’ bearing their treatment costs.
Furthermore, the Israeli authorities continue to violate the economic and social rights of Palestinian workers and adpot discriminatory policies, most notably the large gap in the wages between the Palestinian and Israeli workers, as the latter’s’ wages are four times the Palestinian workers’ wages, in addition to encouraging Israeli employers to violate the rights of Palestinian workers by issuing work permits with many names related to limited periods of time, such as economic needs permits for 17,000 Gaza workers. Despite the significant increase in the number of workers from the Gaza Strip last year, the economy of Gaza has not recovered yet due to the ongoing Israeli closure imposed on Gaza Strip for 16 years, as the Israeli authorities claim.
Moreover, the Israeli authorities use the workers file to put economic pressure on Palestinians, as the latter are deprived of continuing their work or their permits are withdrawn whenever a security tension occurs, in addition to blackmailing the Palestinian workers to collaborate with the Israeli security services in exchange for their livelihood. Also, the Israeli authorities continue to illegally deduct from the salaries of Palestinian workers in favor of Histadrut (an Israeli trade union) as well as the piracy of their money by handing their salaries and rights to the Israeli Antim Company, which prevents and impedes the development of the Social Security Fund in Palestine and deprives Palestinian workers of enjoying their rights guaranteed under international laws. This constitutes an additional burden on thousands of workers who continue to pay part of their monthly wages to illegal permit brokers, which monthly drain about120 million shekela from workers’ wages.4
Also, the Palestinian workers’ access to their workplaces in Israel constitutes a form of violation against their right, as the workers leave very early (between 3:00 and 5:00 at dawn) to reach the crossings and wait for long hours until they are allowed to cross. Additionally, they need 3-5 hours to reach their workplaces, so a large number of workers sleep at their workplaces and return to their homes only on the weekends.
At the Palestinian level, workers’ conditions have aggravated over the past years in light of high poverty and unemployment rates and the ongoing violations of workers’ rights due to the laxity in implementation of the Palestinian Labor law and Palestine’s obligations after accession to international conventions and instruments, most notably the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights.
The absence of a national system to guarantee social protection and security for thousands of Palestinian workers at the private sector deprives them of the right to social welfare for old people and persons with disabilities and social security after death for their families in addition to maternity and employment injury benefits while only the employees at the Palestinian public sector enjoy such benefits. Thus, there is a dire need to develop a national social protection system that preserves workers’ dignity and human rights.
The work environment in Palestine lacks the minimum protection and safety measures due to the frail governmental policies relevant to monitoring workplaces and inspecting workers’ conditions. Additionally, some owners of industrial and commercial facilities do not apply the controls and restrictions imposed on child labor or laws regulating women’s work or those related to occupational safety and health.
Moreover, the non-application of the Palestinian Labor Law violates workers’ rights relevant to their minimum wages, which also do not meet the requirements of a decent life for their families and shall be reconsidered to be more equitable in light of the deterioration of the economic situation and the global high prices that affect Palestine as well. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the monthly minimum wage in the Gaza Strip was (697 shekels) compared to (1419 shekels) in the West Bank, which is less than the legally prescribed minimum wage (1880 shekels). Also, (86%) of workers in the private sector in the Gaza Strip receive a wage less than the minimum wage compared with (8%) in the West Bank.
On this occasion, PCHR expresses its full appreciation for the Palestinian workers’ ongoing endeavor for an adequate standard of living for them and their families and reaffirms the need to address all the reasons that prevent them from enjoying job opportunities that guarantee all their rights and provide them appropriate work environment, conditions, and wages, taking into account their status, needs, and capabilities, and work on developing them. Thus, PCHR:
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