Between exclusion and exploitation
JVL Introduction
It is often said that, unlike apartheid in South Africa which depended on black labour, Israeli apartheid is characterised by the exclusion of the Palestinian labour force.
It is more complicated than that, underestimating the extent to which the Israeli economy is built on their exploitation, as Jonathan Shamir shows in a fascinating discussion of a tension within the heart of the Israeli political elite over this question.
Replacing Palestinian workers with a massive influx of migrant laborers is very expensive. From a simple economic point of view, Israeli employers prefer Palestinians workers where the social costs of reproduction are externalised to the occupied territories.
But even more to the point, leaving large numbers of Palestinians unemployed and desperate is seen by the military and intelligence services as jeopardizing Israel’s own security.
So while extremist politicians may want to exclude Palestinian workers altogether, others do not.
We are likely to see the continued use of Palestinian migrant labour, argues Shamir, with a new, tightened security and permit regime for managing their movement.
RK
This article was originally published by Jewish Currents News Bulletin on Wed 13 Mar 2024. Read the original here.
Between exclusion and exploitation
Israel’s far right wants to permanently replace Palestinian workers, but employing them has become key to maintaining the occupation.
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In Oxford the other night we heard by videolink from a Palestinian trade unionist in the West Bank. All the Gazans working in Israel were dispersed on 8 October either to the West Bank or to jail and often shuffled between the two for no good reason other than to try and make them informants. These displaced workers from Gaza have no money, no food, no homes and no way of knowing if their families back home are alive.