-Caveat Lector- My impression from spending time there is that Israel now is much like new York was at the height of the 19th century immigration wave. There are plenty of "foreign" workers - whose children will be Israelis.
on 8/3/02 4:43 AM, Euphorian at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > -Caveat Lector- > > From http://www.metimes.com/2K2/issue2002-31/methaus.htm > > > Israelis idle as foreign laborers do the work > By Christopher Slaney, Special to the Middle East Times JERUSALEM > > > > > PALESTINIAN BOYS LOOK FOR COVER AS ISRAELI TANKS FIRE DURING THEIR RAID TO THE > NORTH OF > GAZA STRIP ON MONDAY AFTER PALESTINIAN GUNMEN SHELLED THEM WITH MORTAR > MISSILES. > In a report just out from the Bank of Israel, it emerges that half of all > Israelis of working age are simply not > part of the work force. For a country already in the grip of unemployment, led > by a government unable to > agree on a plan to rescue the economy, this latest statistic is a shocker. > > Reading the small print of the report, it turns out the folks at the Bank of > Israel count anyone over the age of > 15 "of working age," a bit of fuzzy math in a society where few teenagers > leave school before age 18. > > Nevertheless, the bank's findings break down as follows: 2.4 million Israelis > are not working. Of these, 2.2 > million are not even looking for work. In the 25- 64 age group, generally > considered to be the most > productive years, close to a million are idle. > > To get people back to work, the bank recommends a series of measures similar > to those already tabled by the > government as part of its rescue plan. Job number one, the bank and the > cabinet agree, is the repatriation > of legions of foreign laborers. These men and women, it seems, are the ones > who actually do much of the > work in Israel. > > On Sunday morning my wife wanted to have breakfast in a cafe overlooking the > sea in Herzliya, north of Tel > Aviv. I parked near a huge construction site where I could hear the workers > shouting to each other and > chatting on a nearby pay phone. They were all speaking Romanian. > > After breakfast, I got stuck behind a garbage truck making its rounds. The > driver looked like an Israeli but the > guys picking up and emptying the bins were either from Ukraine or Moldova. > > Waiting for a light to turn green, I watched a contractor supervise a gang of > Chinese laborers who were > tidying up the flowerbeds in a small public park. > > This phenomenon is not unique to the up-market suburb of Herzliya. A recent > trip into the Negev desert > revealed communities where there are so many Thais working on farms that road > signs like "Low bridge > ahead" and "Danger when flooded" have been translated into the Thai language. > > Country stores are stocked with noodles and sauces from Bangkok, and Thai > television channels are available > on local cable. > > Officially there are 150,000 foreign workers in Israel. That is 150,000 men > and women who have been > brought to the country by personnel agencies, have valid work permits, and > will return to Asia or Eastern > Europe when their short- term contracts expire. > > In reality, tens of thousands prefer to disappear from the farms and > construction sites where they are > supposed to be working, overstay their visas and go underground. > > Israeli officials familiar with the situation reckon there are probably over > 300,000 foreigners working in the > country. Few if any are idle, fewer still are paying income tax. > > These people have traveled far to make a modest income and send home as much > of it as they can. If there > was no work, they'd up and leave in a flash. > > A run-down area in south Tel Aviv is a magnet for foreigners who stay on > illegally. On July 17 a pair of > suicidal Palestinian terrorists detonated bombs there near a popular cafe. Two > of the five dead and most of > the 140 wounded were foreign laborers. > > Rescue workers could not persuade some of the injured to get into ambulances: > they had no papers and > feared deportation. > > The government of Ariel Sharon is in a bind. It knows this situation is > unhealthy and will lead to even bigger > problems. > > Many illegal foreigners are concentrating themselves in ghettos. Although they > are generally hard working > and law-abiding, some are raising families. Their children have neither > documents nor nationality and fall > outside the Israeli systems of health care and education. > > The cabinet recently took a decision to deport 50,000 illegals without delay, > but at the same time personnel > agencies are flying in another 50,000 the agricultural sector says it cannot > do without. > > The prime minister has first-hand knowledge of this dilemma; Sharon is himself > a farmer and employs 16 Thai > workers on his ranch near Ashkelon. > > The foreigners fill the jobs Israelis are unwilling to do for poor wages. > Cheap Asian labor lets farmers in the > Jordan Valley and northern Negev export products competitively priced for > European markets. > > Apart from 2.2 million Israelis there is another huge group of people who are > not working. Around 300,000 > Palestinian men of working age have seen neither a pay slip, nor a dole check, > for six months. Somewhere in > the background are hundreds of thousands of families subsisting on charity > handouts. > > Some of these men used to work in Israel at the same jobs now filled by Thais > and Romanians. > > As part of an easing of restrictions imposed on the Palestinian civilian > population, Israel has announced it will > issue 12,000 travel permits to laborers in the West Bank and Gaza. The plan is > for the Palestinians to reclaim > their old jobs as the foreigners are rounded up and deported. 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