Palestinian workers face arbitrary dismissal in Israel

Incitement against Arabs amid escalating conflict is linked to recent firings of Arab workers in Israel, NGO says.

Palestinian workers cross Eyal check point
According to an Israeli NGO, weaker sections of the labour market are more heavily impacted by arbitrary dismissals [EPA]

Occupied East Jerusalem – On the eighth floor of a limestone tower in Shuafat refugee camp, Barakat Mohammed Ali, 38, reclined on a sofa and exhaled a cloud of apple-flavoured tobacco smoke.

The Palestinian father of four usually works in the late afternoon, but following the recent wave of unrest in Jerusalem, Ali and his colleagues from the same Arab neighbourhood were told they did not have jobs any more.

“This is the third week that we don’t have work,” he told Al Jazeera. “We are 15 people who work with a contractor, who works with the Modiin municipality. And they fired all of us.”

'We were facing some harassment from the settlers,' said Barakat Mohammed Ali [Al Jazeera]
‘We were facing some harassment from the settlers,’ said Barakat Mohammed Ali [Al Jazeera]
Source: Al Jazeera