Daijiworld Media Network - Ramallah
Ramallah, Feb 10: Thousands of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are facing an acute economic crisis after Israel revoked work permits following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, leaving families struggling to survive amid job losses, rising debt and the threat of eviction.
Hanadi Abu Zant, a single mother of four, has been unable to pay rent for nearly a year after losing her permit to work in Israel. With police often called by her landlord, she sometimes takes shelter in a mosque to avoid eviction. “My biggest fear is being kicked out of my home. Where will we sleep, on the street?” she said, breaking down in tears.
She is among an estimated 100,000 Palestinians whose permits to work in Israel were cancelled after the war in Gaza began. Confined to the West Bank, where employment opportunities are limited and wages significantly lower, many families are being pushed into extreme hardship.
Several have sold household belongings, borrowed heavily or struggled to afford basic necessities such as food, electricity and school fees. Others have paid exorbitant sums to brokers for black-market permits or attempted to cross into Israel illegally, risking arrest or even death if mistaken for militants.
Israel, which has controlled the West Bank for nearly six decades, maintains that Palestinians have no inherent right to work inside Israel and that permits are issued solely based on security considerations. However, thousands of Palestinians continue to work in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which Palestinians claim as part of a future state.
The World Bank has warned that the West Bank economy is at risk of collapse due to Israeli restrictions. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, unemployment surged to nearly 30% by the end of last year, up from around 12% before the war.
Before the conflict, tens of thousands of Palestinians worked in Israel, primarily in construction and service sectors, earning wages often more than double those in the West Bank. In 2022 alone, income earned by Palestinians in Israel injected nearly $4 billion into the Palestinian economy — roughly two-thirds of the Palestinian Authority’s annual budget.
Of the roughly 100,000 revoked permits, fewer than 10,000 have since been reinstated, according to Gisha, an Israeli rights group advocating freedom of movement.
The ongoing Gaza war has also led to heightened violence in the West Bank, including Palestinian attacks, settler violence and Israeli military operations that have displaced tens of thousands. These conditions have further worsened livelihoods already under strain.
“My refrigerator is empty. There’s nothing to feed my children,” said Shuhrat Barghouthi, whose husband was jailed for attempting to cross Israel’s separation barrier for work. Once earning a combined monthly income of $5,700, the couple is now unemployed and burdened with nearly $14,000 in debt.
While Israel has sought to replace Palestinian workers with foreign labour, some Israeli employers admit this has resulted in higher costs and delays. Labour rights activists warn that without some form of economic integration, desperation and instability will only deepen.
“The alternative to work in Israel is starvation and desperation,” said Assaf Adiv, an Israeli labour rights advocate, underscoring fears that the humanitarian and economic crisis in the West Bank is fast spiralling out of control.