Marvin Gandall wrote:>
>> They could still
>> regulate cross-border trade and the supply of cheap Palestinian labour
>> coming into Israel, while maintaining political and cultural separation
>> behind the wall dividing the two communities.
>>
Since Oslo, more specifically since Baruch Goldstein massacred Palestinians in the Tomb of Machpelah in Hebron, with the subsequent round of military closures throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), there was a sharp dropoff in the number of Palestinian workers that could come over the Green Line for employment. Becuase this also hit the Israeli employers in the sectors of building, cleaning, agriculture, etc., they demanded that the gov do something about it.
They needed their cheap labor.
This was the beginning of the trend to move away from the use of Palestinian labor in Israel and instead import foreign labor from China, Phillipines, West Africa, East Europe, Thailand, etc. They are percieved as less of a security threat, more pliable workforce, no local family and social ties, can be kicked out of the country when done using them (or so the idea went).
This trend was sharply increased following the beginning of the second intifada.
By and large at the present, Israel is much more dependent on foreign labor than Palestinian labor from the OPT. The opposite is not true however. The economy of Palestinians in the OPT is highly dependent on work inside Israel, and (on average) every one worker in the OPT supports seven other people.