Palestinian Labour Migration to Isreal: Labour, Land, and Occupation

Leila Farsakh provides the first comprehensive analysis of the rise and fall of Palestinian labour flows to Israel. Highlighting the interdependence between Israel's confiscation of Palestinian land and the use of Palestinian labour, she shows how migration has been the result of evolving dynamics of Israeli occupation and the reality of Palestinian labour force growth. This study analyzes the pattern of Palestinian labour supply, the role of Israel's territorial and economic policies in the Occupied Territories in releasing Palestinian labour from the land, and the nature of Israeli demand for Palestinian workers, especially in the construction sector where the majority of commuting labourers are concentrated. New light is shed on the growth of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which are being built by Palestinian workers.

Palestinian Labour Migration to Israel is original in its analysis of the contrasting forces of separation and the integration between Israel and the Palestinian territories, showing that the changing patterns in labour flows reflect a process of redefinition of the 1967 borders. It will be of valuable interest to economists and development specialists as well as to scholars, policy makers and all those concerned with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Farsakh (U. of Massachusetts) describes the political and economic determinants and dynamics of Palestinian labor migration to Israel between 1967 and 2000. Noting that traditional economic migration theories fail to adequately explain Palestinian labor migration because they don't take into account political factors that help shape economic decision making by Palestinian workers, he points to the specificity of the Israeli occupation and its implications for Palestinian economic development and labor force absorption as the main factor determining Palestinian labor migration. He argues that Israeli determination to consolidate its holdings over Palestinian land prevented the Palestinian economy from absorbing its own work force, especially in the agricultural sector, thus "releasing" Palestinian labor to be absorbed by the Israeli economy, particularly in construction. Since the introduction of the Oslo accords in 1993, he further argues, a process of "bantustanisation" has taken place, creating a Palestinian reserve labor force, although this may not have been the specific intention of Israeli leaders. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Palestinian labor flows to Israel have been very large, and have accounted for a significant proportion of overall Palestinian employment and GNP. This book examines the flow of Palestinian labor to Israel over the last three decades, and shows how it has fluctuated over time, with, most recently, a shift in the flow towards Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. It argues that the nature of Palestinian labor flows demonstrates that the territorial dimension to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can not be separated from evolving economic and labor realities; and that recent changes have transformed the occupied Palestinian territories into population reservoirs that are unsustainable economically nor able to separate viably from Israel to form an independent contiguous Palestinian state.