Cleansing Palestinians
And no it has nothing to do with any Israeli action besides the fact that Israelis exist. Ha’aretz is reporting that the Palestinian Authority is seeking to ‘ban’ Palestinians from working for Israelis in the disputed territories:
The Palestinian Authority is moving to prevent Palestinian workers from taking jobs in settlements, as officials Ramallah repeatedly declare their refusal to resume direct negotiations until all Israeli construction in the West Bank is halted.
Palestinians vehemently oppose the settlements Israel has built on land they want for a future state. But with unemployment high in the West Bank, thousands of Palestinians work in settlements. Palestinians have been key to building homes for settlers and also work in factories. Economics Minister Hassan Abu Libda says he is drafting a law that will ban Palestinians from taking such jobs, which he expects to take effect this month.
More or less this would see a complete collapse of the Palestinian economy except Palestinian legislators have built in a ‘caveat’.
The Palestinian Authority will try to find alternatives for those currently working in settlements, but they will not be forced to leave, Abu Libda said. Palestinians working in settlements in the future would be breaking the law, Libda said, but would not discuss penalties.
So current ‘jobs’ are okay but not future ones and a ‘ban’ on labour also extends to ‘Israeli’ (code for Jewish) goods as well.
The legislation also bans the sale of West Bank settlement products in
Palestinian shops, he said. He estimated the estimate of annual sales of
settlement goods to Palestinian businesses at between $200 million to $500 million .In recent months, Palestinian security forces have begun intercepting shipments of settlement goods to West Bank markets, he said, but would not say how much merchandise has been confiscated. The Palestinian Authority announced earlier this year that it would deposit $150,000 every month into a new fund whose goal is to remove all products made in West Bank settlements from the Palestinian market. The PA Economics Ministry spearheaded the creation of the fund, which it said aims to “cleanse the Palestinian market of products from the settlements and encourage local products.”
All of which is the Palestinian right to do whatever – although it does start pushing the concept of ‘peaceful co-existence’ into the realm of existential fantasy. Imagine the hoopla if Israel decided to draft legislation banning all forms of ‘Palestinian labour or products’ – Under five seconds would be my guessitmate for all the usual progressives screaming ‘racist’ and denouncing Israel but turnabout is fair play.
