There are so many aspects of the October 7 attacks that were horrific – but one element that can get lost in the focus on the more barbaric events involves the Palestinian workers who, prior to 10/7, were gainfully employed in Israel. Many of them (we don’t know how many, but a substantial number) acted as spies for Hamas while they were pretending to be friendly to the Israelis they would be helping to torture, murder, and rape.
The program was meant not only to help Palestinians economically, but to show goodwill and most of all to lay the groundwork for better relations between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians’ betrayal of all this goodwill was profound; one can hardly imagine a worse one. The resulting destruction of all trust the Israelis might have still retained up to 10/7 in the word of Palestinians and the potential goodwill of the ordinary Palestinian “man in the street” meant that it would be difficult or actually impossible for any such program or any such rapprochement again.
All of this came to mind again when I read this recently:
On the eve of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Israeli authorities had issued work permits to some 18,500 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs. Israel was forced to revoke the work permits for security reasons after the October 7 atrocities carried out by Hamas and thousands of “ordinary” Palestinians.
This was particularly true in light of evidence that some of the workers had used their time in Israel to gather intelligence on the Israeli communities that were targeted on October 7. The work permits of another 80,000 Palestinians from the West Bank have also been suspended in the aftermath of the Hamas attack. Prior to the October 7 massacre, more than 170,000 Palestinians were working in Israel, constituting an important source of income for the Palestinian economy. …
Palestinian trade unions had said the reopening of the border between Israel and Gaza was a “positive step:” the workers had far higher earnings in Israel than in the Gaza Strip, where salaries are low and unemployment is rife. …
The Israeli goodwill gesture of expanding the number of Palestinian work permits came only days after Palestinians had rioted near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip and had attacked Israeli soldiers with stones, Molotov cocktails, and explosive devices. Palestinian workers were joyful over the Israel’s decision to overlook the riot.
Workers were quoted at the time as saying the riots had nothing to do with them – and perhaps, for some, that was the truth. Perhaps some really did just want to better themselves economically. But for too many of them, it was all a lie and a ruse.
More:
In 2022, then Defense Minister Benny Gantz revealed that Israel was planning to increase the number of work permits for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip from 5,000 to 20,000. The pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported:
“[Israeli] Political authorities believe the gradual increase in the number of Palestinian workers will prompt Hamas to consider any escalation since it will take into account that the thriving labor movement is a major factor in supporting the economy.
“Workers bring to the [Gaza] enclave up to 90 million shekels [roughly USD $24 million] per month, in light of the difficult and deteriorating economic situation there.”
Looking back, it seemed to make a certain amount of sense. But the Israelis were naive, putting too much faith in the idea that all human beings are motivated to better themselves economically, and that such goals can overcome jihadi hatred. Not every worker had to be a jihadi to make the situation extremely dangerous; just a critical mass of them. And that requirement was fully met.
Well, here you have the consequences:
Ibrahim, a father of four, sat with friends in his living room in the Palestinian village of Hizme, just outside Jerusalem, to talk about the hardship of unemployment over the past eight months: “The Israeli government cannot wage war on every Palestinian as if we are all guilty [of Hamas’s crimes],” he said.
Sure they can, and they should. Was the US supposed to ferry some Germans over during WWII to work in the factories? I think not. The concept of “enemy” precludes it.
More:
Within hours of the onslaught, the Israeli government announced the suspension of work permits for about 150,000 West Bank Palestinians who had been commuting daily to work inside Israel, plus another 18,500 Palestinians from Gaza, leaving an economic hole on both sides of the border.
It is estimated that besides permit holders, an additional 50,000 West Bank laborers were sneaking through the border illegally each day before October 7.
Among those who found themselves unable to work in Israel, where salaries are considerably higher than in the West Bank, were around 80,000 Palestinians who used to work on Israeli construction sites, many of them highly specialized in sectors such as ironwork, flooring, formwork and plastering. …
Today, Ibrahim spends most of the time at home, gripped by uncertainty for his and his family’s future. He occasionally gets work in the West Bank, but it pays half what he used to make in Israel — about NIS 300 a day ($80).
The article goes on to say that the Israeli building and agricultural sectors have been hard hit.
And the following is telling, although it doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know:
Like Ibrahim, other Hizme residents agreed to speak with The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal for talking with the Israeli press. Their real names have been replaced.
The reprisal they’re worried about doesn’t come from Israel. It comes from Hamas and other Palestinians.
This is one of the reasons it’s hard to measure how large the “live and let live” Palestinian contingent is. It might be nearly non-existent, or it might be bigger than that. I very much doubt it approaches anything like a majority, although I also think it’s not zero.
But unfortunately it doesn’t matter – although it might matter in the future if Gaza is fully defeated and the re-education begins. The fewer who have to be de-cultified, the better.
But unless these people are presently numerous enough and powerful enough to overthrow the government and establish a new one with good relations with Israel, it doesn’t matter how many of them there are moderates about Israel. They are effectively impotent to change a thing. And Hamas and the other jihadis have sacrificed any moderates for the sake of perpetrating slaughter and mayhem on Israelis. But sacrificing Palestinians who aren’t sufficiently bloodthirsty – or even ones who are, through martyrdom – is part of Hamas’ game.
