Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman is currently considering allowing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to once again work in Israel, particularly in agriculture. This was once a common practice, but it stopped about a decade ago after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. What makes today's situation unusual is that the economic crisis that Gazans face is not what will influence Liberman’s final decision. Rather, it is pressure from the leaders of the southern Israeli regional councils of Shaar HaNegev and Eshkol, where there is a severe shortage of laborers to work in agriculture, the primary source of income for the communities bordering the Gaza Strip. The heads of the regional councils met with Liberman in September to ask him to consider granting entry to workers from Gaza to save agricultural production in the area.
Before the Hamas coup, laborers from Gaza who worked in Israel in construction, agriculture and industry were the driving force of Gaza's economy. People with permits to enter Israel were considered lucky despite the difficulties involved and the long journey they were forced to endure night after night so they could reach their destinations before dawn to perform manual labor for a minuscule fee. After all, it allowed them to somehow support their families.
Will Liberman acquiesce, or will he reject the council heads’ request? At this point, no one knows. In the meantime, however, dozens of workers from Gaza can be seen every day at major intersections in southern Israeli cities, including Ashdod and Ashkelon, seeking to land odd jobs. They gather, clutching their bags of food, hoping to be picked up by building and repair contractors, even if only for a single day's work. These scenes are a reminder of days gone by, when most construction workers in Israel came from Gaza.
One might therefore ask whether there has been a change in Israel’s closed crossing policy. Is the presence of Palestinian workers in Ashdod or Ashkelon the result of an easing of the closure in an attempt to reduce the economic distress felt by Gaza’s residents?
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