JERUSALEM—Israel’s defense establishment has decided to combat the Palestinian terror wave of recent months by issuing 30,000 more work permits that would enable West Bank Palestinians to find employment in Israel.
The Defense Ministry and the Shin Bet security service see the provision of jobs to Palestinians as encouraging stability.
Of more than 100 attacks perpetrated against Israelis in the past four months—generally with knives, sometimes by car—only two have been carried out by Palestinians who hold Israeli work permits. With unemployment rampant in the Palestinian Authority, an Israeli work permit is highly prized, particularly by those who are the prime breadwinner in their family. A significant percentage of the Palestinian economy rests on wages paid by Israeli employers.
Some 58,000 West Bank residents currently have permits to work in Israel proper. Most rise well before dawn to pass through security checkpoints and get transportation to their jobs. Another 27,000 work in Israeli industrial zones in West Bank settlements. Additionally, an estimated 30,000 work in Israel illegally, usually staying temporarily in Israeli towns or Israeli Arab villages.
The additional 30,000 jobs proposed by the defense establishment would be in construction, agriculture, manufacture, and other areas, say officials. Permits will be issued only to persons who have been vetted by the Shin Bet.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff Gen. Gadi Eizenkot have called several times for continued employment of Palestinians as a means of restraining terror attacks. The proposed increase in permits has been approved by the security cabinet and will be submitted for approval to the full cabinet. Even right-wing Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who called for tough measures against the Palestinians when the current terror outbreak began, expressed support this week for increasing the number of work permits by 100,000.
The authorities recently announced that work permits will be withdrawn from relatives of terrorists killed during their attacks, on the grounds that relatives often attempt to carry out revenge attacks. Such a penalty is seen as encouraging traditionally close-knit Palestinian families to restrain those among them, particularly youths, from carrying out attacks.
Israeli officials announced over the weekend an agreement in principle to the return of the bodies of 10 dead terrorists to their families. In the past, funerals of perpetrators inevitably turned into mass demonstrations, with those killed after knifing Israelis hailed as "martyrs." Israeli authorities termed these occasions incitement that encouraged further acts of terror. Officials said the bodies would be returned only if families agree to hold the funerals late at night and only with a small number of family members present. The families will be obliged to provide a financial guarantee, which will be forfeited if the agreements are violated. According to a report on Ynet, an agreement has been reached with 10 families in east Jerusalem whose relatives were killed while attacking Israelis. It is not known whether other bodies are still being held.
Senior military officials are known to have opposed the policy on the grounds that refusing to return bodies would only cause unrest.