CAMERA SHOT On 6 July 2007, the International Federation of Journalists condemned Israel after Emad Ghanem, a TV cameraman working in the Gaza Strip, was shot in the legs by IDF troops while he lay injured, leading to amputation of both limbs. Photo: Palestinian Human Rights Centre (PHRC)

DEADLY COMPETITION Israeli human rights group Kav La’Oved says job shortages are “exploited by Israeli employers for obtaining cheap labour.” It adds that “intense competition among workers, which serves only to weaken them” is leading to progressively worse conditions.

STONE DEAF A 2005 DWRC investigation of conditions in the stone working industry found over 50 per cent of stone workers were suffering from moderate to severe hearing loss. Noise control measures were rare. Less than a quarter of the workers had any breaks. Photo: DWRC

PALESTINE
Unions and workers’ rights groups offer protection

Israeli occupation and an economic crisis in Palestine mean the jobs that do exist tend to be poorly paid, unsafe and insecure. Hazards reporter Jawad Qasrawi looks at the struggle for decent, safe work in a country under siege.

Image: B'Tselem

Palestine does not have a functioning health and safety inspectorate. This, and the financial crisis facing civic organisations, means government statistics on working conditions, where available, are unreliable. In 1999 the Ministry of Labour recorded only 1,029 work injuries across the whole of Palestine, with 27 fatalities. As the political crisis deteriorated, so did the statistics. In 2003 only 187 injuries were recorded, five of these fatal – which would suggest an occupational fatality rate under half that of the UK.

Recent reports, however, confirm that for the fewer than 50 per cent of adults that do have jobs, there is much greater cause for concern...

Palestine Hazards 99 July-Sept 2007 Order the photospread

Further information

Workers' rights violations in the workplace: Study documenting labour rights violations in the workplace in various sectors in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, DWRC, 2005.

Work environment and occupational health and safety in Palestine, Samir Harb, DWRC, 2002.

Democracy and Workers’ Rights Centre (DWRC)

Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)

Kav La’Oved

Palestine Solidarity Campaign

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