"Palestinian workers face abuse in Israel", 29 May 2015

High unemployment in the West Bank has forced tens of thousands of Palestinians to seek jobs in Israel, where they face abuse, inadequate pay and poor work conditions, Palestinian officials say. “In 2014, we documented hundreds of Israeli violations against Palestinian workers in Israel,” Shaher Saad, head of the Palestinian Workers’ Union, told Anadolu Agency. “We are following up on dozens of cases in Israeli courts of abuse by Israeli employers, in terms of work-related injuries, compensation and end-of-service benefits,” he added. On Thursday, the International Labor Organization (ILO) released its annual report on the situation of workers from the occupied Palestinian territories. The report found that up to a third of the estimated 107,000 Palestinians working within the Israeli economy “work in unregulated conditions which can be precarious and exploitative”. The ILO report added: “Without functioning labor exchanges, workers may have to rely on unscrupulous brokers. In cases of work-related accidents or disputes, remedies are difficult to obtain even under regular circumstances, let alone when permissions have not been granted”... Rami Mahdawi, general director of operations at the Palestinian Ministry of Labor, said most Palestinian workers had been subject to violations – in one form or another – in Israel’s labor market. “Most Palestinians who work in Israel are in the construction or agriculture fields,” Mahdawi said. “Many of these workers are exposed to a wide range of violations by Israeli employers, as they work in unsanitary conditions and are harassed by Israeli soldiers at checkpoints,” he added...