India (Common Wealth) _ Israel has begun the process of bringing in thousands of Indian and Chinese laborers, mostly to work in the construction industry, which has been in crisis for nearly two decades.
During Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen’s brief visit to New Delhi last month, the two countries struck an agreement that would allow 42,000 Indian employees in Israel, 34,000 of them would work in the construction business. A few weeks later, an Israeli government delegation traveled to China to evaluate 5,000 individuals for construction employment. Last year, Israel also looked to Morocco for personnel in the construction and caregiving sectors.
Until now, Indian workers in the West Asian country were mostly involved in caregiving, accounting for the vast bulk of the 18,000 Indian nationals. Indians would be breaking into the Israeli construction labor market for the first time.
The Israel Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA) stated that Indian labor would be a response to Israel’s “great shortage” in the construction and nursing sectors. It went on to say that “in addition to the foreign workers expected to arrive from India, another wave of Chinese workers is expected for the construction industry.”
According to a research paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Migration Letters in January 2023, ‘wet works’ in the building industry are largely undertaken by non-Israeli employees, who include both Palestinians and foreigners. However, because Israel limits the number of non-Israelis by imposing quotas and taxes, there is usually a labor shortage in the industry.
The regulation was last revised in 2021 when the number of permits for non-Israeli workers in the construction industry was increased by 29,000 workers. According to a document written by two Israeli experts, this included new permits for 15,500 Palestinians and 13,500 foreign workers.
According to the International Labour Organization’s May 2023 report on “The Situation of Workers in the Occupied Arab Territories,” 192,700 Palestinians work in Israel, rising one-third from the previous year. Construction employs around 60% of Palestinian employees.
With West Bank unemployment remaining high, the International Labour Organization reported that the Palestinian economy and labor were “becoming excessively reliant on Israel.”
According to the research paper, there are two key benefits to using Palestinian construction workers. “Because Palestinian workers do not live in Israel, their employment has no effect on the state’s socio-demographic composition.” Furthermore, the employment and economic well-being of these people may, among other things, contribute to the de-escalation of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians,” it concluded.
At the same time, the disadvantage was the distance between their residences and the workplace, as well as the need to pass through checkpoints on a daily basis. “Palestinian workers do not come to work in Israel when there are security clashes and border closures.”
However, even more, foreign workers from India, China, and elsewhere, as a result of the expanded quotas, may not be enough to meet the urgent labor shortage in the housing sector. According to a senior official of the Israeli Contractors and Builders Association, the current move by the Israeli government will result in a 15,000 job shortfall.
