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HomeRead, Watch, ListenIsrael
Israel Hamas WarFeatureIsrael

Palestinians in West Bank count the days until they can work again

The post-October 7 ban on allowing workers to enter Israel has created mass unemployment. Some say it’s part of strategy to make them leave for a better life elsewhere.
Ben Lynfield
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Omar Hajajlah

West Bank resident Omar Hajajlah (supplied)

Published: 7 October 2025

Last updated: 7 October 2025

Nasser Yacoub, one of about 130,000 West Bank workers banned for ostensible security reasons from Israel since October 7, 2023, seems like an unlikely security threat.

When The Jewish Independent met him at his immaculate and spacious home in Wadi Fukin village, sandwiched between the town of Tsur Hadassah and the illegal settlement of Beitar Ilit, the 60-year-old father of three spoke of sending greetings and phone calls for Rosh Hashanah to his many former clients in Tsur Hadassah who are also his friends. He had worked there for three decades.

“I’m still friends with them now but only by phone, I used to visit them before Rosh Hashanah,” he says in fluent Hebrew. The Israelis would also come to his hillside home and sip sweet tea or join for a meal.  So trusted was Yacoub, a builder and handyman, that his friends would give him keys to their homes, sometimes calling him from abroad and asking him to do a job.

If you ask me, this ban is not justified, I see it as part of a pattern of making the lives of the Palestinians more difficult

Mati Steinberg, former Shin Bet adviser

He recalls that work was never easy because he had to wake up very early and wait at a crowded checkpoint, before starting a long day in Tsur Hadassah. Still, by working hard and being widely recommended, he earned a comfortable living.

He was looking to marry off his older son Leith and to buy him a house when Hamas carried out its brutal attack, shaking Israel and triggering cancellation of all permits for West Bank Palestinians to enter the country.

“We thought it would be one, two or three months of this terrible war, that it would pass. We were wrong in our assessment,” Yacoub said.

As the war dragged on, Yacoub drew down his savings and says he now has little left. He turned from breadwinner to relying on help from his daughter, who works in Bethlehem. The plan to marry off Leith has receded — there is no money for a house. Yacoub’s youngest son is preparing for his matriculation exams. “I ask myself how I will pay for university,” he wonders.

Perhaps even worse is the psychological toll. “I read a book, sit at the computer, speak on the phone and help around the house. You burn the time and you think: When will this end? When is the light coming for tomorrow?”

Making life impossible in the West Bank

Palestinian and Israeli critics of the policy of barring the return of the Palestinian labourers see it as much more sinister than a collective punishment. They say it is aimed at making the West Bank a non-viable place for Palestinians to live in, as part of Israel’s overall aim to annex the territory.

“The policy is to annex and deport Palestinians to Jordan or other countries,” says Rabeh Morrar, director of research at MAS, the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute in Ramallah. “A lot of Palestinians have dual citizenship. The idea is that if you have no hope here, you will find an opportunity outside Palestine.”

Reinforcing this assessment, a recent tweet by Likud Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, Gila Gamliel, stated that Israel will oversee “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from both the West Bank and Gaza.

Adding to the pressure on West Bank Palestinians, the army is cracking down harder on Wadi Fukin and many other locales in the occupied territory. The head of the IDF’s central command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, said during a speech last month that there was a chance the West Bank would heat up because of “diplomatic declarations, the holidays, the olive harvest and copying of attacks by individuals”.

Fragmenting the population

The IDF itself is also escalating tensions. Recently it installed a yellow iron gate at the entrance to Wadi Fukin that it can use to cut off movement at any time. It has done the same all over the West Bank, isolating population centres and further fragmenting the territory.

“We are in prison,” Yacoub says, adding that the army has stepped up the number of forays into the village.

Another Wadi Fukin resident, an educator who asked not to be identified, says a minority of the unemployed are now allowed to work in construction to expand Beitar Ilit settlement. But on balance, the educator’s sense is that the IDF is making life much worse for locals.

“The checkpoint at the gate is a big problem,” the educator says. “When there are soldiers there, they prevent anyone not listed on the computer as being from Wadi Fukin from entering the village. This means that they can stop your relatives from visiting you.”

The IDF spokesperson's office did not respond to a query asking for its view of the security situation in Wadi Fukin. It did say, however that "the checkpoint policy is dynamic and adapted to the situation on the ground, balancing security needs with the ability to allow movement in the area."

Widespread poverty

Hardship is growing in other areas. In Walaje, on the outskirts of occupied East Jerusalem, Omar Hajajlah’s family has taken a heavy hit. Hajajlah, 58, used to make a good living with a specialty in sealing up leaks in homes in Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem. On October 7, everything changed. Sitting on his porch overlooking the Gilo settlement, he recounts the reversals as he ran out of money. “Psychologically, we are in a condition of garbage with a black future,” he says.

His 21-year-old son had to drop out of university to become a physical therapist because there was no money for tuition. Now he works as a watchman at a petrol station in Bethlehem, making 50 shekels for a 12-hour shift, Hajajlah says. “My youngest wants to become a chef,” he added. But we have no money for that.” As he speaks, the sound of drilling from the expansion of Gilo is clearly audible.

Hajajlah was forced to sell his flock of 25 sheep. Now all that’s left of them is their pen, a fenced off empty patch of brown dirt. Hajajlah owns land that has belonged to his ancestors since the Ottoman era. But he would never sell it no matter how dire the straits become, he says. Instead, he and his loved ones try to scrape by. The son who stopped university sold his horse. His wife sold her jewellery.

“We eat a stew of potatoes, tomatoes and rice. We used to eat chicken and meat. My brother sometimes picks up bread for us. A friend can help you — but how much?” he asks. “This is not just for one day or one week. And how many close friends does a person have anyway? Two, three, four? And they have the same problems as you do.”

It seems that unless the international community steps in well beyond mere diplomatic recognition of Palestine, there is no relief in sight for the West Bank. Even if Israel’s destruction of Gaza ends, there is a chance that this will only further embolden harsh Israeli policies here. “Things won’t go back to what they were, they won’t let everyone back,” Hajajlah predicts.

Rabeh Morrar says people have stopped buying houses because of political and economic uncertainty, leaving those who were construction workers in Israel with no substitute employment. More broadly, there are very few jobs and even if one is attainable, the pay is a small fraction of the workers’ former wage.

Unemployment is officially at 35 percent but may actually be higher, Morrar says. Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority workers are receiving only partial salaries because Israel refuses to forward customs revenues to the PA as part of its openly avowed drive to destroy Palestinian statehood aspirations.

“There is no money in the market, people are only consuming their basic needs. We are in a huge recession and we need at least US$5 billion to motivate the market,” Morrar tells TJI.

The situation is so bad that some are even driven to take their lives into their hands and try to sneak into Israel to find work. Israeli security forces have shot 107 would-be infiltrators during 2025, according to a recent report in Ynet, which said all the injuries were to the lower part of the body.

Return to work?

During discussions four months into the war about whether to allow the West Bank workers back gradually, the IDF greenlighted the idea, according to media reports. The thinking was that security checks could minimise risks. Elements in the army were also reportedly concerned that growing economic hardship could fuel unrest in the West Bank.

But far-right powerbrokers Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is Minister of National Security, and Bezalel Smotrich, Finance Minister and decision-maker for the West Bank, insisted it would be a security risk.

The settlements supported by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, were exempted from the ban on Palestinian workers and Israel now gives permits to an estimated 8000 West Bank Palestinians to work in construction jobs on them.

Meanwhile, Israel has been bringing in Sri Lankan and other foreign workers to take the places of other West Bankers.

Fears of attacks by Palestinians are not without basis. Last month, two gunmen from the West Bank killed six Israelis and wounded more than 20 others at a bus stop in the annexed part of Jerusalem. And some observers note that Israel has no obligation to allow the workers back and that Israeli citizens could fear having them nearby.

Still, Mati Steinberg, former adviser to three chiefs of the Shin Bet, told TJI that when it comes to former workers applying again for work permits, security can be upheld while clearing Palestinians to go back to their old jobs.

“If you ask me, this ban is not justified. I see it as part of a pattern of making the lives of the Palestinians more difficult,” he says.

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About the author

Ben Lynfield

Ben Lynfield

Ben Lynfield covered Israeli and Palestinian politics for The Independent and served as Middle Eastern affairs correspondent at The Jerusalem Post. He writes for publications in the region and has contributed to the Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Policy and the New Statesman.

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