On International Workers' Day: The brutal war is pushing Palestinian workers towards hunger, poverty, and unemployment.

Taisir Khaled

This year, International Workers' Day falls under exceptional circumstances, the most difficult in the history of the Palestinian labor and trade union movement and the history of the national struggle. The brutal war waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip, as well as the West Bank, including Jerusalem, has entered its twentieth month with no signs of an end in sight, despite the numerous efforts of Arab and international mediators. The war continues, claiming the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinian citizens, destroying their infrastructure and economic facilities, and pushing Palestinian workers toward hunger, poverty, and unemployment.

The labor market, as Shaher Saad, Secretary-General of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, confirms, is currently experiencing an unprecedented crisis in light of this war, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinian workers losing their jobs, both in Israeli projects and in Palestinian projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Before this war, the number of Palestinian workers employed in Israeli projects was approximately 248,000, of whom 200,000 held official work permits and approximately 48,000 worked illegally without permits. According to Saad, these workers constituted a vital backbone of the Palestinian economy, and their monthly salaries, according to estimates by the Israeli Central Bank, reached 1.35 billion shekels. All of this has come to a standstill in light of this war, which has also cast a shadow over the Palestinian labor market after the occupation authorities prevented these workers from going to their jobs in Israeli projects, whether inside Israel or in the settlements established by the occupying state throughout the West Bank.

Beyond that, this war has cast a shadow over broad economic sectors within the West Bank and Gaza Strip, after the occupation authorities divided the country into isolated enclaves surrounded by iron gates, military checkpoints, and earth mounds. According to data from United Nations agencies, these enclaves number approximately 900 gates, checkpoints, and earth mounds. This has paralyzed the Palestinian economy's ability to adapt even to wartime conditions, exacerbating unemployment problems. According to estimates by the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, the number of unemployed has reached approximately 507,000 workers, including 248,000 who lost their jobs in the 1948 territories, and approximately 100,000 workers in the West Bank, while the remaining numbers are distributed across the Gaza Strip. With tens of thousands of Palestinian workers losing their jobs after October 7, 2023, these workers, according to several Palestinian trade union leaders, have entered a severe livelihood crisis due to the lack of income and the absence of a national social protection system. Living conditions have further deteriorated in light of the sharp rise in the prices of basic consumer goods and commodities, exacerbating the economic and social suffering of these workers.

Naturally, the situation of Palestinian workers was better before this war. The number of Palestinian workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip reached approximately 1.16 million, including 868,000 from the West Bank and approximately 292,000 from the Gaza Strip. Data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics indicated that the number of Palestinian workers from the West Bank and Gaza Strip working in Israeli projects, both inside Israel and in settlements, increased from approximately 51,000 in 2013 to more than 178,000 in the third quarter of 2023, the eve of the war on the Gaza Strip. This number included 153,000 workers from the West Bank and 25,000 workers from the Gaza Strip, most of whom worked in the construction, services, and agriculture sectors, constituting approximately 20% of the total Palestinian labor force. Various data also indicated the suffering of the Palestinian labor force due to high unemployment rates, especially in the Gaza Strip, on the eve of the war. The unemployment rate in the West Bank and Gaza Strip among those participating in the labor force reached approximately 24%. The disparity in unemployment rates between the West Bank and Gaza Strip was significant, reaching 45% in the Gaza Strip and around 13% in the West Bank. These unemployment rates posed the greatest challenge, especially for Palestinian youth, reaching 32% among males and 59% among females. These rates were higher in the Gaza Strip than in the West Bank, reaching 75% and 30%, respectively. The highest rates were among young people aged 18-29, especially among graduates with an intermediate diploma or higher, reaching 48%. There was a clear difference between young males and females: 34% for males and 61% for females.

The picture was not rosy before the war, but it changed for the worse during this war. From the first day, Israel targeted all economic and civilian service facilities throughout the Gaza Strip, leading, according to the International Labor Organization, to a work stoppage and the disruption of all aspects of economic and social life. At the same time, the Israeli authorities revoked all work permits granted to Palestinian workers employed by them from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. These workers, who provided the Palestinian economy with an income of approximately $3 billion annually, or approximately 15% of the gross national income, were affected. Large segments of the West Bank population were subjected to repressive measures and movement restrictions imposed by the occupation authorities, negatively impacting all aspects of economic and social life. These restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank, imposed since October 7, 2023, have become a threat to their security and a real obstacle to the movement of more than 67,000 Palestinian workers who have jobs in governorates other than their place of residence. Consequently, they are forced to pass through dozens of military checkpoints erected by the Israeli authorities on the main roads connecting the West Bank governorates and the surrounding cities and villages. However, the groups most affected by these Israeli measures remain youth and women, particularly university graduates. It is noteworthy that unemployment rates in the Palestinian territories are already higher among young university graduates, both male and female, reaching approximately 74% in the Gaza Strip and approximately 29% in the West Bank. Unemployment rates are also higher among women, with the unemployment rate reaching 66.2% in the Gaza Strip, compared to 29% in the West Bank.

This is a picture of the deteriorating conditions that our national economy and the Palestinian working class are experiencing. The war on the Gaza Strip, as well as the West Bank, including Jerusalem, has exacerbated the deterioration. This does not mean that this situation would have heralded a recovery for our national economy had it not been for the war. For years, our national economy has been in an intensive care unit due to the restrictions imposed by the agreements signed with Israel, especially the Paris Economic Protocol. We found ourselves facing a difficult equation: either free ourselves from our dependence on the Israeli economy and embark on broader horizons that open up opportunities for development for the national economy, or continue to spiral into further dependence, deterioration, and stagnation. In the difficult economic and national circumstances we are experiencing, I find no shame in defending the Palestinian working class, Palestinian industrialists, and Palestinian industry simultaneously. What we have achieved in this regard compels me, from both a national and a class position, to reconcile the defense of the rights and interests of workers with the defense of national capitalism and national industry, whose conditions have deteriorated alarmingly, not only due to the occupation policy but also the misguided policies pursued by successive governments in the Palestinian National Authority.

Everyone knows that our national industry is a simple industry, and in its basic structure, it is a processing industry, some of which made its way with great difficulty under the enormous restrictions and pressures imposed by the Israeli occupation policy and the constraints imposed by the Paris Economic Agreement. A single economic market and a single customs envelope between a simple economy and a developed one led by the revolution in science, technology, and communications. These restrictions and pressures imposed cannot be ignored, with negative repercussions on the performance of the Palestinian economy and the development of Palestinian industry, which tended toward subcontracting with the Israeli economy and market. In light of this, the production structure was transforming and developing, albeit slowly. The same was true of the labor structure and the inputs to the gross national product (GNP). Foreign income, primarily from work in Israeli projects and from remittances from expatriates, constituted a significant portion of its components, reaching an average of 30-35% of the GNP, even in cases of stability and the opening of the Israeli labor market to Palestinian workers. This is a certainly high percentage, indicating a major imbalance. At certain points, its value and rates exceeded the combined share of the industrial, agricultural, and construction sectors.

In light of this, Palestinian workers in the Palestinian territories occupied since June 1967 greet May 1st every year with bitterness, frustration, and anger in light of the harsh living conditions they face. On the one hand, they have faced, and continue to face, daily repression and humiliation by the occupation forces at roadblocks and crossing gates, whether into Palestine or even at work centers in the settlements. They also face horrific exploitation of their workers in Israeli projects, including those established by settlers on Palestinian land in the settlements. If this is the case with our workers under the occupation, its policies, and practices, then what is the situation of these workers in the Palestinian labor market and in national projects? From an objective perspective, no one can underestimate the difficulty and danger of the conditions facing the national economy and the Palestinian private sector. The national economy is captive to the Paris Economic Agreement and to the policy of blockade, closure, and economic strangulation. For years, Palestinian governments have not extended a helping hand to the private sector as they should. Citizens wonder what percentage of the Palestinian Authority's available financial resources over the years—whether from various tax revenues or funds from countries and donors—has been allocated to development investment to improve the private sector. The answer is truly shocking: this percentage has not exceeded 5 percent over the years. Beyond that, Palestinian governments have pursued policies that have contributed to the most serious damage to the industrial, agricultural, and service sectors of the Palestinian national economy. They have opened national markets to all imports at the expense of encouraging domestic products and providing an acceptable or minimum level of protection requirements. This has exacerbated the national economic crisis and has undoubtedly contributed to the growth of unemployment, increased poverty rates, a deterioration in the standard of living, and low wages in the private sector due to fierce competition in the labor market.

The private sector has a role to play in development, and in our circumstances, it is vital, not marginal. The requirements for it to fulfill its responsibilities and role in this regard must be met. At the same time, we recognize that injustice must be redressed against workers in this sector by respecting the provisions of the Palestinian Labor Law, despite its shortcomings and shortcomings. The government must intervene in two main directions: First, raise the minimum wage in the private sector so that it approaches the wage rate of public sector workers, oblige the private sector to do so, and link wages to the cost of living index. This step should be reinforced by providing subsidies for basic commodities that mitigate the impact of this exorbitant price increase on the conditions of vulnerable social segments. Second, achieve national consensus on the Social Security Law and the formation of the Social Security Council and Fund, with all the resulting obligations fulfilled by the government, as well as by employers and employees in the private sector. This has a significant impact on providing job security and the most basic requirements for a dignified life for these employees, especially workers, at the peak of their careers and in the twilight of their lives.

On this occasion, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of reviving the role of the Palestinian labor and trade union movement and restoring its pioneering role in the seventies and eighties of the last century in order to defend the rights of the working class and its fair and well-known trade union and social demands, and to distribute the burdens of steadfastness in the face of aggression in a fair manner between workers and employers. It is also important to revive its role in the struggle against the occupation, strengthen its steadfastness, and develop its struggle in the face of the widening scope of unemployment, poverty, destitution, and deterioration of living standards, especially in the circumstances of the brutal, comprehensive war and the war of genocide and starvation waged by the occupying state against the Palestinian people in all the Palestinian territories occupied by the 1967 aggression, including occupied Jerusalem.

On this occasion, I cannot miss emphasizing the importance of activating and developing the role of the Palestinian labor and trade union movement on the international scene and building partnerships with labor unions in various countries of the world to launch a broad solidarity movement with Palestinian workers, whose living standards have deteriorated to terrifying levels, and to launch a protest movement in many countries against the brutal war waged by the occupying state against the Palestinian people. At the same time, I call on international labor unions to stand in solidarity with the workers and people of Palestine and to pressure the governments of the concerned countries to stop providing military aid to Israel and supplying it with lethal weapons and death bombs and shells, which do not spare anyone, including women, children, and workers, and do not even spare hospitals, health centers, universities, schools, and local and international humanitarian relief workers, in addition to factories, plants, and many productive, commercial, and agricultural institutions that provided job opportunities for the Palestinian working class.