News

Nazareth – Over the past four decades Israel has defrauded Palestinians
working inside Israel of more than US $2 billion by deducting from their
salaries contributions for welfare benefits to which they were never
entitled, Israeli economists have alleged.

A new report, “State Robbery,” to be published later this month,
says the “theft” continued even after the Palestinian Authority was
established in 1994 and part of the money was supposed to be transferred
to a special fund on behalf of the workers.

According to information supplied by Israeli officials, most of the
deductions from the workers’ pay were invested in infrastructure
projects in the Palestinian territories – a presumed reference to the
massive state subsidies accorded to the settlements.

Nearly 50,000 Palestinians from the West Bank are working in Israel –
following the easing of restrictions on entering Israel under the
“economic peace” promised by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime
minister – and continue to have such contributions docked from their
pay.

Complicit in the deception, the report adds, is the Histadrut, the
Israeli labor federation, which levies a monthly fee on Palestinian
workers, even though they are not entitled to membership and are not
represented in labor disputes.

“This is a clear-cut case of theft from Palestinian workers on a >>>