About two months ago, a well-known businessman approached the heads of the councils in Yash and gave them an ultimatum - either you allow Palestinian workers to enter my stores, or I close them all. The threat worked, and workers are now working in the network he owns. But this is the exception that proves the rule and teaches about the dissonance - No one wants anything to do with the Palestinians, but we depend on them.
Since the beginning of the war, the Yosh has been closed and there is a ban on the employment of Palestinians. Within the areas of the Green Line, the ban is hermetic and absolute by order of the Political-Security Cabinet, while in the Yosh there are strict instructions for the employment of Palestinians, which allows them to return to industrial areas where there is no interaction with Israelis Ordinary, except for their employers and security guards.
Palestinian laborers protest at the Tarkamiya crossing against the salary reform // Arab Networks
Although almost four months have passed since the outbreak of the war, there is no change in the decisions regarding the employment of Palestinians.
Conversations with senior officials in the government reveal that although there are discussions regarding the day after, there is no prospect of actual decision-making.
"We are not against employing Palestinians", surprises one of the sources, "we are against employing them during wartime".
This statement is particularly important, because it symbolizes the two different approaches that exist in the government.
On the one hand, the approach of Economy Minister Nir Barkat, who wants to bring 170,000 foreign workers to Israel in order to sever Israel's economy from dependence on the Palestinians.
He believes that such an initiative can be launched in a short time.
Barkat's initiative is currently stuck because there is no decision on the matter in the government.
Quite a few Israelis believe that this approach should be promoted and that all contact with the Palestinians should be cut off according to the October 7 conclusions.
emerald.
Interested in foreign practitioners, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
On the other hand, there is an attitude of other elements in the cabinet who believe that the Palestinians should not be cut off from Israel because this could endanger the settlements in the West Bank in the long term. In the meantime, they postpone the decision on the Hapoalim until "the day after" - which at the moment is completely theoretical. The lack of decision means in practice A death sentence for businesses in wide areas.
"What was is not what will be"
There are quite a few parties who believe that there is no place to keep waiting and that a plan should be promoted that will allow the entry of workers in a regulated and secure manner.
"Everyone understands that what was is not what will be, but solutions can be found. There used to be a bus standing at a central intersection where a security guard checked the workers and then entered a construction site or a secured field inside Israeli cities without contact with the residents. There is no reason not to do this now as well. If We will wait longer - we will return to the problematic situation that was due to external or internal pressures."
Palestinian workers.
Will they return to work soon?
The construction industry, for example, has been almost completely frozen for four months and who knows how much longer, and there are businesses in other fields that report a complete collapse.
An example of hardship can be seen in one of the settlements of Judea and Samaria, where laborers can be brought in under particularly strict conditions.
At the construction site, the developers stretched a new three-meter-high fence, which separates the settlement from the site, in order to continue employing Palestinians.
The cost of the fence was astronomical, but the alternative is a continued freeze.
"This is the longest construction freeze since the Obama days - and this time we did it to ourselves," a senior IDF officer defined it.
The cycle of poverty is around the corner
Dozens of businesses were closed throughout Yosh as a result of the war, and dozens more are in tangible danger. In Binyamin, for example, business owners say that the ban on bringing workers into settlements and frontal industrial areas threatens many families who may enter the cycle of poverty and reach the collapse of businesses.
Construction in Yosh. A massive buffer between the construction site and the settlement, photo: Hanan Greenwood
The heads of the authorities in the YUS and in Israel face an almost impossible dilemma. On the one hand, business owners accept the collapse, and on the other hand, residents demand that the workers not be allowed into the settlements and cities. They are the ones who will decide whether to put pressure on the government on the issue.
Afraid on the chair
Quite a few professionals believe that one of the biggest problems is the municipal elections.
Until February 27, heads of authorities cannot afford to fight to bring in Palestinian workers because this could jeopardize their victory in the elections.
Some even say this literally: "Let us go through the elections."
After the elections, it is very possible that we will see higher pressure from the senior officials in the authorities who have freed themselves from the terror of the voter.
"The heads of the councils are currently unable to withstand the pressure. You will see after the elections how suddenly the Palestinian workers will return to work," says a senior member of the YUS. "In the end, there is nothing else."
The local authority elections (archive), photo: Gideon Markovich
The business owners are not impressed by these political accounts.
"Hundreds of business owners and thousands of employees are standing on the brink of an abyss and economic consequences that will destroy our business, our right to livelihood, our health, and especially our families," says one of the business owners.
"The residents must understand that for years the State of Israel has encouraged and accustomed to working with Palestinian laborers. In the absence of an adequate solution, it is impossible to stop everything and harm everyone's livelihood. The house we are building is on the verge of completion, and the ban on bringing in the laborers causes us a significant financial loss and the danger of entering the definition of a family with little means ".
security risk
The introduction of Palestinian workers also has an extensive security aspect.
There is a consensus among security officials that a way must be found to return the workers to Israel because the Palestinian economy is currently in free fall, which they believe could degenerate the territory into total chaos.
"We are a moment away from a complete explosion," security sources believe.
"Poverty and the situation allow other factors, such as Iran and Hamas, to enter the vacuum, and there will eventually be people who will be able to influence them."
the cabinet.
We must come to a decision before the area is overrun,
A few weeks ago it was announced about a pilot to return the Palestinian workers to the cities of Israel, also due to the security aspect, but at the moment it seems that nothing is progressing.
According to the security officials, "there are many ways to reduce the Israeli interface with the Palestinian Authority, but in order to do so we need to move forward and work. At the moment there is no decision, and the situation is only getting worse - both in the civilian aspect and in the security aspect."
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