More than half of 75 Israeli companies surveyed by the national employment service have violated laws requiring Arab employees to be paid the same minimum wage as Jews and given certain social benefits.
More companies will be surveyed as part of a broad campaign being conducted by the employment service. The companies found to have been remiss have been fined and, in some cases, taken to court.
The campaign has been spurred in part by the closure imposed on the administered territories more than two months ago, which has led to a smaller number of Palestinian workers in Israel proper and more accurate knowledge of who these workers are.
The number of Palestinian workers from the territories entering Israel daily was estimated at about 110,000 before the closure. Now, 45,000 permits have been issued, though not all are being used.
“As long as Israel is responsible for the territories, we are responsible for the living and the working of the people there,” said Labor and Welfare Minister Ora Namir.
“At the same time,” she added, “the government of Israel cannot and (should not) invest money in the territories to create jobs for the people living there.
“We do not have enough money to do it for the Israelis and there is no question that it would be very difficult for us to do it” there, Namir said.
It will cost tens of billions of dollars to dramatically change the “terrible situation” in Gaza, she said.
The blow the closure has dealt to the economy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has prompted Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to increase his pressure on European countries to invest money in the territories, rather than protest human rights violations committed there by Israeli soldiers.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
