As the world celebrates International Workers’ Day on May 1st – honoring workers’ struggles and labor movements with national holidays in many countries – Palestine joins in this commemoration. Yet for Palestinian workers in the occupied territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, this day comes amid an especially harsh reality that has intensified since Israel’s war on Gaza began in 2023.
Following the war on Gaza, many Palestinians holding work permits for Israel lost their jobs when Israeli authorities abruptly canceled their permits. In addition, they have faced mass arrests and systematic abuse as part of Israel’s intensified policy of collective punishment.
By 2024, unemployment in Palestine climbed to nearly 51%, with the West Bank at 35% and Gaza at 80%. Before Israel’s war on Gaza in 2023, the rate was approximately 31% (18% in the West Bank and 53% in Gaza).
Historically, since the Israeli occupation began in 1967, Israel has structured the Palestinian economy to remain dependent on and captive to the Israeli economy, serving as a source of cheap, highly exploitable labor. This cycle of manipulation and exploitation persists during periods of political unrest, ensuring the Palestinian economy remains underdeveloped.
Although there was optimism with the signing of the Oslo Accords that Palestinians could establish a truly independent state and economy, the continued occupation, settlement expansion, and failure of the peace process further entrenched the Palestinian economy’s dependency, in which many analysts refer to as the cause of the political unrest the Palestinians and Israeli are going through.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/26/nx-s1-5672355/palestinians-west-bank-economic-crisis
https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/portals/_pcbs/PressRelease/Press_En_ForecastingPCBSE2026E.pdf
