the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Feb 17, 2020
Several dozen workers from the West Bank of Palestine trying to enter Israel to go to work without permits were shot by Israeli soldiers in the last three months of 2019, according to newspapers and activists. The West Bank is a large area east of Jerusalem and includes Bethlehem and Jericho. It was conquered by Israel from Jordan by war in 1967.
Almost 130,000 Palestinians from the West Bank work in Israel in construction, agriculture, industry, and services. Their wages make up nearly half of West Bank incomes. But the Israeli government denies over one third of the workers a legal permit to work in Israel.
For half a century this system has forced most of the workers to pay for a work permit, which can cost up to one half of their wages. Tens of thousands have been slipping covertly across the border fence and wall by way of drain pipes or ladders. Now Israeli soldiers are waiting in ambush to shoot at them.
Israeli bosses benefit by hiring hard-pressed Palestinian workers and paying them less. But the region’s working people can only survive by working and living together without restriction.