JERUSALEM, Nov. 25 (JTA) – For the first time, Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics has published figures on foreign workers in Israel. As of November 1995, the number of foreign workers in Israel totaled close to 110,000, according to the bureau. That figure includes more than 60,000 legal workers and some 47,000 illegal workers. Unofficial estimates, however, put the number of foreign workers in Israel at close to a quarter of a million people. The use of foreign workers in Israel, particularly in agriculture and construction, has increased as result of the closures of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The closures have prevented Palestinians in the territories from going to work in Israel. The Israeli government has begun to take steps to deport illegal foreign workers.
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