Israel Matzav

Israel goes along with 'Palestinian' double standard

There are two headlines in Tuesday's Haaretz and Wednesday's JPost, which look very bizarre when compared with each other.

On Tuesday, Haaretz reported that the 'Palestinians' were (sensibly) easing their ban on employment of 'Palestinians' by 'settlements' in order to ease their unemployment problem.

The Palestinian Authority has reconsidered a proposal that would have barred Palestinian laborers from working in West Bank Jewish settlements.

Although several PA officials, notably Economy Minister Hassan Abu Libdeh and Prime Minister Salad Fayyad, came out in favor of such a move at the beginning of the year, it appears the PA has decided not to push for legislation on the issue because it is unable to offer the workers alternative employment.

...

According to Israeli figures from September 2009 that were provided to the PA's donor countries, 22,000 Palestinians were working with Israeli permission in the settlements, including the settlements' industrial zones.

Non-governmental organizations have said, however, that about 10,000 other Palestinians are working in the settlements without formal permission, mainly in seasonal agricultural work.

It also appears that since September 2009, the number of Palestinians employed in the settlements has increased to nearly 35,000. These workers support a Palestinian population of more than 200,000, and PA legislation barring employment in the settlements would be an economic blow to Palestinians in the West Bank following a rise in Palestinian living standards there.

But when it comes to building the 'new Palestinian city' of Rawabi, Israeli companies participating in the project are required to practice BDS (boycott, divest, sanction) along with everyone else participating in the project.

Right-wing politicians and attorneys attempted on Tuesday to stop Israeli companies that boycott settlement products – such as those helping to build the new Palestinian city of Rawabi – from working on government-funded projects.

The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel asked the attorney- general and the Finance Ministry to amend the law regulating governmental tenders, so that companies boycotting settlement products would be banned from bidding for government projects.

MK Arye Eldad (National Union), with the support of the Knesset Land of Israel lobby group, penned a bill to the same effect, which he hopes to file in the Knesset this week.

The attorneys and politicians stepped up their battle against settlement boycotts after Army Radio ran a story that Israeli companies working at Rawabi, which lies north of Ramallah, had agreed not to use settlement products there.

A clause to this effect was included in the contract Israeli companies signed with the Bayti Real Estate Investment Company, which is developing Rawabi.

The clause reads, “the Seller is prohibited from using and/or employing goods and/or services and/or resources manufactured and/or originating from Israeli settlements towards achieving any of the objectives of this Agreement, or in relation thereto.”

It includes east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in its definition of settlements.

Companies that violate this clause risk the annulment of the contract, loss of pay and financial penalties.

Bashar Masri, chairman of Massar International, which co-owns Bayti, told The Jerusalem Post that settlement products had been banned in the construction of Rawabi since work on the city began in 2009.

10-12 Israeli companies (including - presumably - some of our largest infrastructure companies) are working on Rawabi now, and more than 20 are expected to do so in the future.

So it's okay for the 'Palestinians' to work in the 'settlements,' but it's also okay for the 'Palestinians' to require Israeli (and other) companies that are participating in the 'Palestinians' largest infrastructure project not to use the goods produced by the 'Palestinians' working in the 'settlements.'

Sounds like a double standard to me.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: BDS, Palestinian economy, Palestinian employment in Jewish towns, Rawabi

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:13 AM