CConstruction noise is nearly constant throughout Israel. With more skyscrapers added to Tel Aviv’s tech-booming skyline every year, new housing is desperately needed not only in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank but across the country. However, construction work has almost completely stopped since October 7, after the Hamas attack that sparked a new war in the Gaza Strip.
The industry relies on around 80,000 Palestinian workers, who are currently prohibited from entering Israeli territory. As a result, half-finished residential areas are everywhere, with yellow tower cranes waiting motionless overhead. Poverty rates are skyrocketing in the West Bank.
The economic impact on Israel could also be severe. The Treasury says expulsions of Palestinian construction workers cost 3 billion shekels (£656 million) a month, and the building and housing industry owes 400 billion shekels (88 million pounds) in loans. It is estimated that this could lead to a loss of 3% of GDP.
But while the divided Israeli government is stuck deciding whether to bring back Palestinian workers, an unexpected solution to recruit workers from India comes as the fallout from the conflict reverberates around the world. was found.
“Right now I earn about 15,000 rupees (about £150) a month,” said Rajat Kumar, 27, from the northern Indian state of Haryana. Despite having a bachelor’s degree, he was unable to find a job outside of construction for six years, earning what he described as a “peanut” salary.
Kumar, who obtained his first passport to apply for a job as a plasterer in Israel, said the possibility of traveling abroad to a country embroiled in conflict was a small price to pay for regular, well-paid work. .
The job he applied for in Israel would pay him 138,000 rupees (£1,350) a month, including accommodation, which he considered a small fortune. “Compared to the income I’m making here, I can’t think of anything other than a better life for me and my family,” he said.
The bilateral collective agreement was signed between Israel and New Delhi in May last year, before the outbreak of the Gaza war, but has since become a priority for both countries. Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev said during a visit to India earlier this month that Israel would “reduce its dependence on Palestinian workers” by replacing them with skilled foreign workers. .
Photo: Naeem Ansari/AFP/Getty Images
India suffers from a chronic job shortage, with an overall unemployment rate of around 8% and a youth unemployment rate of almost 25%, and despite concerns about traveling to conflict zones, jobs in Israel remain There is a huge hunger for it.
Young people participated in recruitment drives in large numbers across northern India. At one point in Uttar Pradesh, more than 15,000 people gathered to submit applications to work as plumbers, masons, electricians, carpenters and plasterers on construction sites in Israel. Some traveled hundreds of miles and waited more than eight hours.
Kunal Shirk, the Uttar Pradesh government’s director of training and employment, said the state had received a direct request from Israeli authorities to hire 10,000 workers.
Silk said he specified that the Israelis were primarily looking for steel workers, tile makers, plasterers and carpenters. “7,000 workers were screened and 500 have been selected so far,” he said. “We hope to conduct more recruitment efforts in the future.”
Relations between Israel and India were not always cordial. The two countries only formally established relations in 1992. But India is now Israel’s main arms recipient, and the Hindu nationalist government in power since 2014 views the Jewish state as an ideological ally.
According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, many Indian candidates seeking jobs in Israel were told that the jobs were not available to Muslims. Israel’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations.
“We are very happy that the Palestinians are coming back, but it’s not a decision we make and the situation is critical. Until that step is taken, we need foreign workers.” said Shea Pausner, deputy executive director and spokesperson for the Israel Construction Association Labor Union.
About 60,000 foreigners are expected to enter Israel’s construction industry in the coming months, he said. The majority will be from India, but Israel has similar collective bargaining agreements with Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan, and has also hired people from China, Moldova and Ukraine in the past.
This recruitment drive was met with resistance from several industry associations in India. In a statement released in November, the 10 trade unions said any attempt by the government to “export” Indian workers “appears to dehumanize and commodify Indian workers.” He said he would show it. The statement further added, “Such a step would amount to India’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocidal war against the Palestinian people.”
This month, the Indian Transport Workers’ Union joined the debate, saying thousands of workers would refuse to unload weapons bound for Israel “in solidarity with the Palestinians.”
Although better than standards in the Gulf region, where the majority of India’s construction workers work, safety in Israel’s construction industry is poor by Western standards. A human rights organization recently reported that the number of deaths on construction sites in Israel is 2.5 times higher than in the EU per 100,000 workers.
Nevertheless, recruitment in India’s largely informal labor sector appears to have been largely unaffected by trade union protests and safety concerns, with the first Indian workers hired as of last week. are starting to arrive. Pausner estimated that 400 people have already passed skills and qualification tests to come to Israel.
Vikas Danda, 33, from Panipat in Haryana, said he had applied for a job as a plumber in Israel. The same job in India earns him only 17,000 rupees (about £170) a month, and he struggles to make ends meet.
After his wife died of a heart attack five years ago, he became the sole parent to his daughter and said he decided to get a job to help pay for her education. Danda added that he was not concerned about the risks of going to Israel.
“I want to give her a good life and education,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what kind of situation we’re sent to when the situation here is already bad. We don’t have much of a choice. This job pays 10 times more than hers, so all other worries are put aside.” I’ll put it on.”
