Hundreds of Palestinian workers waiting at an Israeli army checkpoint in Bethlehem to get to work in Israel. (WAFA Images / Ahmad Mizher) 

By Anan Shehadeh

BETHLEHEM, May 1, 2018 (WAFA) – As the world marks on Tuesday the International Labor Day - May 1, at least 400,000 Palestinians are unemployed, most of them new graduates, and 320,000 Palestinian families live below the poverty line, according to the secretary general of the General Federation of Palestinian Labor Unions Shaher Saad.

He told WAFA that 45% of young Palestinians have not had a chance to work and 95% of the Palestinian industries in the West Bank and Gaza lack real operational capabilities.

Saad said workers in Palestine are spread between the private and public sectors and a good number of them work in Israel and in Israeli settlements.

He said 150,000 Palestinians work in the public sector and are protected under Palestinian law, and 200,000 work in the private sector, many of them facing problems and getting unfair wages below the minimum wage set by the government.

In addition, 150,000 Palestinians work in Israel and its West Bank settlements, with only 66,000 of them are legal with work permits and they are concentrated in the construction, industry, agriculture and services sectors.

Some 35,000 Palestinians work illegally in Israel without any rights and are often swindled and forced to work long hours.

Saad said that despite attempts by Israeli employers and government to swindle and extort Palestinian workers, the federation nevertheless was able to retrieve financial dues for 6430 workers who worked inside the West Bank only over the past few years for a total of over $1 million, in addition to rights for 10860 workers who worked inside Israel for a total of over $6.3 million and an additional $231,000 for workers at border industrial zones.

Saad talked as well about the mistreatment and abuse of Palestinian workers in Israel at the hand of their employers or Israeli security and the congestion at checkpoints and the long hours it takes the workers to pass through overcrowded and undersized checkpoints.

M.K.