PALESTINE: A palestinian state in the salary borders

Sami is a friend of a friend, so we often meet at the same table in front of the same tea. He is  a Palestinian who lives in the city of Bethlehem. He and all his family are refugees from Malha (a village close to the Old city of Jerusalem) even if they no longer live in a camp. So when one day he told me that he was working as a supervisor in an Israeli company that builds Israeli settlements, I was very surprised. "I make 7000 shekels (1,400 dollars) a month. I could accept a lower wage in construction in Palestine as long as I could maintain my wife and my daughter, but I haven´t found that minimum”, he explained.

This job guaranties him a permanent permit to enter Israel and health insurance for him and his family. But it also has its drawbacks: Sami needs to be in his working place every day at 7 am. When he has to work in Jerusalem, he must get to the wall at 2 am to make sure he arrives on time. There, he waits on the line for hours along with hundreds of Palestinians with work permits that are waiting for the soldier to let them pass. "If we´re able to cross early to the other side, we light a fire and have something to eat to kill time until the company's van comes to pick us up," he says. By the time he arrives back home, it´s already 5 in the afternoon. He eats something with his family and goes to sleep.

Sami sees the sunrise as he waits to cross to the other side of the wall and get to his work

Palestinian workers with a permit to work in Israel kill time after crossing the wall

"I cannot stop thinking about work. When I'm crossing the wall back home I start thinking about how big the next day line will be, if I should come earlier, if I'll get through”. The israeli law for these Arab workers does not grant them holidays (except on Jewish holidays, when no one works in the company) or extra month´s salary. "It's like the life of a donkey, working and sleeping."

A year ago, when the Palestinian Authority decided to draft a law banning Palestinians from working in the settlements, I asked the Minister of Finance of the Authority about the alternatives for the 21,000 Palestinians that do this kind of work. "Half of them do not work in the settlements because they starve, but to make more money." The following question was obvious: "So what´s going to happen with the other half when the law comes into effect? Without hesitation, he replied: "It doesn´t matter what happens to them. During the second intifada, many lost their jobs as well. The most important thing is the national project ".

The "national project" sounds funny to Sami. In fact, his boss is an ultra-Orthodox Jewish inhabitant of a settlement and he considers him a true friend. Their families have made barbecues together and have even attended the funerals of their relatives. "Whoever is good with me is my friend, regardless of where he is coming from. We do not hate the Israelis; what we hate is their policies. At the end we will have to live together and I wouldn´t care if Jews would live here if we, the Palestinians, could go also anywhere and I would be able to return and live in Malha. "

Although the law was drafted almost a year and a half ago, the Palestinian Authority has not decided yet to put it in force.