On International Labor Day… MOFA Calls on the International Community to Take Action to Find Appropriate Solutions for Palestinian Workers

Monday, May 1, 2023

On the first of May every year, the whole world celebrates International Workers’ Day, except for Palestinian workers who still suffer from very difficult living conditions due to the unjust Israeli restrictions imposed on them. The conditions of workers in the Gaza Strip, in particular, are getting more difficult, in conjunction with the continuation of the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip for the seventeenth year now, in addition to the repeated Israeli attacks on the Strip.

According to the figures of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, unemployment among participants in the labor force (15 years old and over) in the Gaza Strip amounts to about 230,000. While about 1.5 million people out of 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip – according to the statistics of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor – live in a state of poverty due to the Israeli restrictions imposed on the Strip.

The difficult living conditions of Palestinian workers are inconsistent with the most basic labor rights stipulated in international legislation and laws. For example, Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that everyone has the right to work, to enjoy free choice of employment, to work under just and favorable employment conditions, and to have protection against unemployment and that all individuals, without any discrimination, have the right to equal pay for equal work.

The Foreign Affairs Office calls on the international community and international organizations related to human and labor rights, especially the International Labor Organization, to take bold steps aimed at finding suitable solutions for Palestinian workers or employing them in some Arab and foreign countries, in a way that contributes to reducing unemployment rates among workers, as well as providing urgent and permanent aid to everyone who does not have a suitable job opportunity that provides him and his family with a decent life.

The Ministry also appeals to the international community to put pressure on the Israeli occupation government to stop targeting the economic sectors and civilian property, to expedite the provision of production inputs from raw materials, to ensure the freedom of trade exchange, and to advance the process of reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, in addition to supporting and stimulating investments in the Gaza Strip, which has been besieged for the seventeenth year in a row.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

      Gaza – Palestine