Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz may be aware of the problem of phony work permits for Palestinians from his many long years of service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Or maybe he isn’t. Still, he was given a mandate Oct. 23 to try to form a new government. Should he succeed and become the next prime minister, he should dive right into this issue. It won’t be too hard for him to make the necessary changes, which would benefit all parties. He would have to do it with the same urgency that he would have to declare the Hilltop Youth to be a terrorist organization. The Hilltop Youth, a group of violent settlers active in the West Bank, not only harm the Palestinians, their mosques, and their olive groves, but also the IDF, which the group regards as jackbooted occupiers.

The issue of these illegal permits to work in Israel was raised by the Palestinian government when it met in Ramallah at the beginning of October. The problem was presented in all its severity at the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. The entire process is completely illegal as far as the Palestinians are concerned, but it is equally illegal from the Israeli side of things.

This is the situation. There are tens of thousands of Palestinian residents of the Palestinian Authority who are employed in Israel. The majority of them work in construction, while others work in the hospitality industry, agriculture and other areas. In order for them to work in Israel, they must be approved by the Israeli security forces and have a permit that designates their employer. But not every Israeli employer can ask for a Palestinian worker. There are caps in place in all of the major areas of employment, and it is only after the Ministry of the Interior confirms, or at least concludes, that there are no Israeli workers willing to work in certain jobs that officials will approve permits for a set number of workers. Most of these caps do get filled. Employers send their requests to the Palestinian Ministry of Labor, and the Palestinian Authority distributes the permits to Palestinian workers, who come to Israel and work for the specific employers who requested laborers.

But that is just part of the story. There are many more Palestinian laborers than permits. Thus, a black market had stepped in to benefit three parties: Israeli employers, Palestinian intermediaries and bureaucrats working for the Palestinian Authority.