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, 84% of industrial facilities have been destroyed, including more than 71% of farmland fully destroyed in Gaza. For Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, settlement expansion, land confiscation, and annexation policies have undermined the Palestinian economy, halting its operational capacity.
In addition, many Palestinians with Israeli work permits lost their jobs when Israeli authorities canceled their permits, many facing mass arrests and systematic abuse as part of Israel’s collective punishment policy.
By 2024, unemployment in occupied Palestinian territories reached 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 kept the Palestinian economy captive and underdeveloped.
Sources:
– https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/30/mapping-how-israels-land-grabs-are-reshaping-the-occupied-west-bank
– https://mas.ps/cached_uploads/download/2024/12/02/paper-2-1733151676.pdf
– https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/israels-exploitation-of-palestinian-labor-a-strategy-of-erasure/
– https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/portals/_pcbs/PressRelease/Press_En_EconomicForecast2024E.pdf
– https://noria-research.com/mena/the-suspension-of-palestinian-labor-to-israel-since-october-7th-a-turning-point/
– https://mas.ps/en/news/12352.html
– https://www.rosalux.ps/working-palestine-covid-19-labour-and-trade-unions-in-the-west-bank-and-gaza-strip-2-7546/
#InternationalWorkersDay #May1st #WorkersRights #LaborRights #WorkingClass #Palestine #Israel #EndTheOccupation #InternationalLaw #HumanRights
