RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Labor Union Wednesday said the Israeli occupation forces arrested some 100 of Palestinian laborers near the West Bank city of Jenin for unknown reasons. The union said that some seventy Israeli military vehicles arrive at Barta'a Al-Sharqiyeh village, to the west of Jenin, and declared it a closed military zone before launching the arrest campaign. The Israeli separation wall divided Barta'a to two parts: Barta'a Al-Sharqiyeh on the Palestinian side and Barta'a Al-Gharbiyeh on the Israeli side. It added that the hundreds of Israeli soldiers thoroughly searched the village's homes before arresting the laborers. The union said that the laborers are from several West Bank's cities and villages and from Gaza Strip. It added that the laborers reside in the village for its location near Al-Jalameh crossing point on the border between Jenin and Israel. According to the union, the majority of the laborers in possession of working permits inside Israel. The union said that the Israeli soldier brutally attacked the laborers before transferring them to the nearby Israeli military camp of Reihan. Shaher Sa'ad, Secretary General of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), denounced the arrest campaign. Sa'ad said that “Israel wants to increase the unemployment in the Palestinian territories and undermining the abilities of Palestinian Authority to create an independent state.” “The immoral incident violates all international treaties including the Fourth Geneva Convention which obliges the occupying country to provide jobs for the occupied people,” he said. The Palestinian official called on the United Nations and the international human rights organizations to “intervene to stop the continued Israeli violations and aggressions against the Palestinian people and workers.” Hundreds of unemployed Palestinian workers risk their lives by creeping into Israel to look for jobs in the labor market as the rate of joblessness in the Palestinian territory hits 24.9 percent. The number of Palestinian workers Israel gives work permits has drastically dropped following the start of the Second Intifada in 2000 and the building of the separation wall. According to Palestinian statistics, around 25,000 Palestinians work legally in Israel and an estimated 30,000 Palestinians enter Israel for work illegally. The number of Palestinian workers in Israel reached 118,000 on the eve of Second Intifada. Israel says some 32,000 Palestinians earn their living inside the country and another 27,750 Palestinians work for Israeli employers in the West Bank.
