Saad: Our daily loss is US $ 1.4 million

There are at least 35,000 Palestinian workers who have no work permits in Israel and are therefore unemployed, causing a loss to the Palestinian economy of some $1.4 million per day, said Shaher Saad, the Secretary General of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions.

He added that Palestinians working inside Israel must arm themselves with a permit to guarantee their rights in terms of health benefits and sick holidays. He said Palestinian workers in Israel are divided among three different catergories: 48,000 workers with permits, 35,000 workers without permits, and 12,000 workers inside Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

According to Palestinian estimates, there are at least 600 cases worth US $3 million before the Israeli courts regarding unpaid workers whose rights had been denied because they worked without appropriate permits.