Agricultural Development in the West Bank (ص 67)

غرض

عنوان

Agricultural Development in the West Bank (ص 67)

المحتوى

123
2. Labourers from the occupied territories are heavily concentrated
in the conatruction sector (48%) and in other manual occupations
which are shunned by Israeli workers because, in general,
they consider them dirty or poorly remunerative. This trend is
further accentuated by the constant availability of cheap workers
commuting to Israel from the occupied territories. Despite
turbulent labour relations in Israel and rapidly rising inflation
rates, cheap Arab labour has helped buttress rapid development
in Israel's huge construction sector.
3. Labourers from the occupied territories are characterized by
& high spatial and inter-factory mobility. Because they are denied
any form of collective bargaining, they can be hired and fired at
will, and in the process seek alternative jobs in different
locations or occupations. This has provided Israeli firms with
marked security against a background of chronically tense relations
with Jewish labour unions.
4. The higher wages and standards of living in the occupied
territories have stimulated a substantial boost in the purchasing
Power of their residents. The benefits of this consumption surge
are reaped largely by Israeli manufacturers who provide the two
territories with about 90% of its imported goods (see section
on Trade in Chapter V).
On balance, Israel has gained substantial economic and political
benefits by integrating the Palestinian labour force into its
economy, particularly more so that these labourers commute daily
to their home towns. And in order to facilitate this process
and bolster its "positive" effect, the Military Administration
has opened many recruitment offices and a number of vocational
training centres. These centres offer short training courses in
12h
manual occupations demanded by Israeli firms which, "me ly
perpetuates the bias that confines Palestinian workers to the
role of manual labourers in the Israeli econoay.?
Conclusions
The basic elements of the continuing conflict over major test
Bank resources could be summarized as follows:
1. Acquisition and control of land is the focal point in the
conflict. Israel strives in various ways to claim as much
as possible of the occupied territories. In addition to
fostering direct measures to facilitate achieving this
objective, Israel appears determined to curtail to a minimum
all such forms of land use which would enable local residents
to expand the area they utilize. This applies most
importantly to those forms of land use which involve visible
and long-term attachment to land, such as urban uses and
certain forms of agriculture (eg. fruit trees).
2. Israel considers the West Bank water resources as an integral
part of its own, By minimizing water supply available for
use by local residents, it helps reduce their attachment to
land, weaken their economic base, and either increase their
integration with Israel's economy, or even facilitate
emigration.
3. Israel's labour policy in the West Bank aims at two major
objectives. The mre desired objective is to minimuze the
size of local population by facilitating emigration. But
Israel would like to see those who stay become subordinated
to its own economy instead of expanding their production base
at home.
—
1. Van Arkadie, op cit, p 63.

هو جزء من

Agricultural Development in the West Bank

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المنشئ

Hisham Masoud Awartani

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