Some 25,000 Gazans used to work for Israeli employers, but today none do. Five years since they abruptly lost
their jobs, the first Gazans finally get compensation, Oxfam’s Catherine Weibel reports.Last month, I went to Gaza to meet three women who were the first in
the occupied territory to win compensation after being abruptly laid off five years ago by their Israeli employer. I was part of an Oxfam delegation which acted as an intermediary, delivering the
money to Gaza. It was a heartbreaking experience that I will never forget.
Orub Al-Najjar Freih, Naameh Abu Maghasib and Fida Al-Najjar holding cheques from their former Israeli
employer. [Photo credit: Mike Bailey]
Orub Al-Najjar Freih, Naameh Abu Maghasiband Fida Al-Najjar had worked in Israeli textile factories in the
Israeli-controlled Erez industrial zone until 2004. For several years, they sewed clothes; they described beginning work at 4am and finishing at 7pm, including over two hours spent in a bus
and going through the crossing between Israel and Gaza daily. They earned eight shekels per hour (about 1.5 euros), even though the national minimum wage in Israel was 20 shekels (almost 4 euros).
They did not have much choice, since there were few better paying job opportunities in Gaza.“I made so little money that the abbaya [a loose black robe from head to toe]Â I
wear today is the same I wore on my very first day of work years ago”, said Fida. “But I did not complain. At least I was able to buy food for my family at the time. Now
on some days I don’t even have one shekel in my pocket”.Some 25,000 Gazans like Fida used to work for Israeli employers. Today, none do. That means
25,000 people â€" and their dependents â€" have lost a valuable source of income. They began losing their jobs in 2000 because of the severe border
closures introduced by Israel following the second Intifada. And then, in 2004, the Israeli army prevented workers from leaving Gaza
and closed the Erez industrial zone.Gazan workers were no longer able to reach their workplaces in Israel.
Impossibly, their employers even seemed to blame them for not showing up to work. They refused to make any severance payments or provide compensation, even though Israeli Labor
Law states that laid-off workers are entitled to one month of salary for each year of work upon termination of their contract. Most of these workers are now trapped in Gaza, unemployed and
dependent on humanitarian aid.“Some of the employees dismissed in 2004 had been working for over 30 or 40Â years in Israel”, Karim Nachwan, Director of
the Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center (DWRC) branch in Gaza, told me. “Some had even paid for state pension schemes, but have been denied benefits.”Two Oxfam partners,
Sawt el-Amel (’Laborer’s voice’) â€" a Palestinian workers’ organisation registered in Israel â€" together with DWRC in Gaza are working to negotiate
compensation and severance pay for Gazan workers in court or through direct negotiations with the employers.The three women won the money in an out-of-court settlement. When I met
them during a ceremony to mark the occasion, each one beamed with joy. They were so shocked to have finally received compensation that two of them actually collapsed in my arms and
cried.“I am overwhelmed by the good news”, Orub said. “My husband is jobless. This money means that for the first time in years, I will not have to go and beg money from my
uncle. I’ll be able to buy new clothes, diapers and milk for my four children. I will take care of my family for one month with this money.”I was happy for her. But when
I asked Orub to show me the cheque, I could not believe how little she had received. It was the cost of a few good meals in a restaurant in London, Paris or New York.“These women
received much, much less than what they were legally entitled to,” Marie Badarne, Sawt el-Amel’s Development and International Relations Coordinator, told me. “But for
women living in Gaza, a little is better than nothing. It is still a small success.”Naameh was truly in a state of disbelief that she had received anything at all. “Here you must
be grateful for every shekel you can earn”, she told me. “Even though it is not a lot of money, it is still enough for me because I had lost any hope of receiving compensation.”
Fida [Photo credit:
Mike Bailey]
Fida was especially overjoyed. “I prayed to God to help me receive this compensation money at last, as there could not be a more critical time for me. With this money, I
can buy a little more medication for me and some fruit for my mother and my sister.”Fida softly explained to me that she has suffered from breast cancer from an early age. She has
already had 7 surgeries in Gaza. At 29 years old, she said she was already full of scars and yet she was still sick.“I am weak and I can’t afford proper treatment. I hope the NGOs
who helped me get compensation from my employer can help me go out of Gaza for surgery in a better equipped hospital”, she explained.Â
Yussef and nine of his former colleagues [Photo credit: Mike Bailey]
Also attending the ceremony was Yussef Abu Kamel, aged 31. He used to work as a carpenter in
an Israeli furniture factory which employed 350 Gazan workers both in the Erez industrial zone and in the Israeli town of Ramla. All were abruptly dismissed in 2004, when the crossings and the Erez
industrial zone were closed. Yussef, who brought home 1000Â USD a month to his family, was suddenly penniless. He was the first to approach Sawt el-Amel on behalf of his former colleagues.
In December 2008, the organization submitted the first individual compensation claims of 13 workers from Gaza to the Israeli labor courts, totaling 1 million shekels (180,000 euros) of lost salaries
and social security entitlements.Yussef is now a volunteer field worker for Sawt el-Amel in Gaza, and even though he’s been persistent in pushing his case, he now faces a Kafkaesque
obstacle: the Israeli Court has summoned him to come in person to claim his rights.“If I don’t appear in court after having been summoned twice, they will dismiss the case and
I’ll lose my rights”, he told me. “They must know I can’t go to court anyway. I am trapped in Gaza since the Israeli blockade prevents Palestinians from leaving the
Strip.”Ten of his former colleagues might have to raise 1,500 NIS each (270Â euros) in the next couple of weeks to pay for security deposits asked by the Israeli court where
their cases are pending. If they do not deposit the money, which is needed to compensate the factory owner in case they lose the case, their cases might be dismissed.This is a
surreal situation, which threatens to deprive Yussef and his former colleagues of their rights as workers, and of the compensation to which they should be entitled after years of hard work. There are
many other cases to come: 850 Gazan workers who used to work for 60Â Israeli companies have contacted Sawt el-Amel, which is currently investigating the cases. A year ago they were 300. Many
others might follow.Find out more: Oxfam in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel More from the Oxfam Press Office at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/news
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A Palestinian worker repairs a bullet-ridden wall damaged during the three-week offensive Israel launched last December, at a factory in the northern Gaza Strip November 2, 2009. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (GAZA POLITICS ...
![Orub Al-Najjar Freih, Naameh Abu Maghasib and Fida Al-Najjar holding cheques from their
former Israeli employer. [Photo credit: Mike Bailey]](http://www.oxfam.org.uk/generationwhy/cgi/process_comp/photos/2009/11/gazanworkers-1.jpg)
![Fida [Photo credit: Mike Bailey]](http://www.oxfam.org.uk/generationwhy/cgi/process_comp/photos/2009/11/gazanworkers-3.jpg)
![Yussef and nine of his former colleagues [Photo credit: Mike Bailey]](http://www.oxfam.org.uk/generationwhy/cgi/process_comp/photos/2009/11/gazanworkers-2.jpg)
