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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Life under occupation Home page  back Print  Send To friend Narratives Under Siege: Hoping for Work: Un-Employment under the Israeli Closure PCHR 23 June 2011 http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7518:narratives-under-siege-hoping-for-work-un-employment-under-the-israeli-closure-&catid=65:narratives-under-siege&Itemid=209 In the late 1970s, at the age of 16, Ramzi Abd el-Rahman Ganmam, who trained as an electrician, began working with his uncle in Israel as a day laborer. Due to the Israeli closure on the Gaza Strip, Ramzi has joined the ranks of Gaza`s unemployed, For 24 years, Ramzi worked all over Israel, in places such as Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, and Ramla. Due to the difficulties associated with travelling through Erez crossing (the border point between the Gaza Strip and Israel) Ramzi’s day-to-day life as a labourer in Israel was exceedingly difficult. It required getting up between 1 and 2am, travelling to Erez, waiting – often for many hours – to cross through the checkpoint, and then travelling to the job in time to begin the day’s work, usually between 7 and 8am. Ramzi would work a full day and around 5pm faced the long journey back home to the Gaza Strip. When asked why he was willing to spend so many hours every day just travelling to work in Israel, Ramzi replied simply that, `it was good money and I could take care of my family. There is no work here.` The money earned in Israel enabled Ramzi to provide his wife and six children with a decent standard of living. He added that for the last few years he had an Israeli employer who treated him very well and for that reason, in addition to the extra-income, he liked the work. `He would pick us up at Erez and take us to the job. He left us there to manage ourselves because he trusted us and was never disappointed.` Ramzi added, `there is a saying from the Quran that Muhammad said, every boss should pay his employees before their sweat dries. He did that. He always paid us a good wage right there.` As Ramzi says, however, after 2000 and the outbreak of the second Intifada `all went upside down.` Due to tightened closure restrictions, Ramzi – and thousands of other works in the Gaza Strip - was only able to obtain work permits sporadically. Since 2004, he has been completely blocked from crossing into Israel to work. In fact, by September 200 the average number of workers crossing through Erez to Israel daily had dropped considerably to 3,505. That number has stood at 0 since September 2004.[1] Ramzi has tried desperately to find ways to support his family in Gaza but it is impossible. `There is very little work of this type in Gaza because there is no building material. So I do small electricity jobs for people. But, often, I go work for them and they say they have no money and to come back at the end of the month.` Ramzi indicated that in past month he had worked a total of one week, which was typical. Government and international agencies have provided Ramzi and other workers with little help. He participated in the Jobs to Work program through UNRWA, but a person can only do the program for 6 months. Then he has to wait 2-3 years before becoming eligible to participate again. Ramzi also partook in a similar program run by the Ministry of Work, which also runs for 6 months, `but even that wasn`t enough money to take care of my family. Sometimes I don`t have a shekel to give to my kids to go to school.` Ramzi no longer qualifies for this work program either. In Israel, Ramzi used to earn about $70 a day. Now, he estimates that on those days he does work, he earns roughly 20 shekels, or $4. Due to this lack of income, Ramzi is unable to make ends meet; the government has informed him that he has a 200,000 shekel ($57,000), electricity bill to pay. Ramzi says `I spent most of the time working to provide for my family. I have no connection to any political party and yet this is my situation. No one helps the workers.` Chris Gunness, an UNRWA spokesman stated `It is hard to understand the logic of a man-made policy which deliberately impoverishes so many and condemns hundreds of thousands of potentially productive people to a life of destitution.`[2] In the years he has been unable to work, Ramzi has noticed a big difference in his health. He says it used to keep him strong and happy because his job was physical. Now he doesn`t get any activity. `If I went back to work now I know that I would feel younger again.` When asked what he would want to share with people he said, `the workers are ignored. All we want is a solution. We want someone to listen to us.` Does he want to go back to work in Israel? `Yes, that would be good. My old Israeli boss still calls me to say that he has work and will hire me again. If Israel opens tomorrow, I will work every day for a year` Ramzi’s unemployment is a direct result of Israel’s illegal closure policy, a policy of collective punishment which has been applied periodically since 1991. Since 2007, Israel has imposed an absolute closure on the Gaza Strip, keeping its borders continuously closed. Unemployment now stands at 45.2%,[3] and the poverty rate exceeds 60%.[4] [1] Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, oPt, The Gaza Strip: Access Report September 2005, http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/73D80B9E47740D79852570A400651CC1 [2] Gaza jobless rate at 45%, five years after full blockade imposed, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/14/un-unrwa-report-blockade-gaza-unemployment [3] United Nations Relief Works Agency, Labor Market Briefing Gaza Strip, Second-Half 2010, http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/201106083557.pdf. [4] PCHR, The Illegal Closure of the Gaza Strip: Collective Punishment of the Civilian Population, pg. 93 (10 December 2010). rh Links to the latest articles in this section Occupation forces injure mourners following funeral of slain infant Mohammad Tamimi Nabi Saleh village assaulted - toddler shot in the head died in hospital Palestinians in the snow: thrown from home into the snow, throw snowballs and get arrested