Last update - 00:00 10/10/2007
High Court: Labor laws to apply to Palestinians in settlements
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Israeli labor laws will now be applicable to Palestinians working in West Bank settlements, according to a precedent-setting ruling unanimously handed down on Wednesday by the High Court of Justice.
The High Court ruled on a petition submitted by Kav Laoved - Workers' Hotline, and two Palestinians working for Israeli employers in the West Bank.
The two Palestinian petitioners worked for the local council of Givat Ze'ev and various private companies, and demanded the rights extended to workers in Israel - including minimum wage, damages, compensation and various social benefits.
"The question before us," wrote Justice Eliezer Rivlin, "has many comprehensive implications for all workers employed in Israeli communities in the [West Bank] territories, and its solution has an impact on the relationships between Israeli employers in the territories and both Israeli and Palestinian workers."
Before the petition was submitted to the High Court, the National Labor Court had ruled that the law applying to Palestinian workers is that which applies to Palestinians in the West Bank in general - not Israeli law. However, attorneys Alexander Spinard and Nava Pinchuk-Alexander of Kav Laoved maintained that employment contracts for Palestinians in Israeli settlements attest to the parties' intention to be governed by Israeli law.
"The territorial affiliation should lead to the conclusion that Jordanian law is the law governing Palestinian workers, since the location of the employment is in the territories," Rivlin wrote.
"But examining the territorial aspect does not suffice. In the absence of a clear agreement between both sides, we should aspire to such that equal and identical law be applied to all workers with no relevant difference between them, in that they hold jobs of equal worth," the ruling continued.
This position gained the support of the Histadrut labor federation, but was opposed by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who joined the case when it was already underway.
Justice Salim Joubran stressed the importance of equality in the ruling.
"The Labor Court's ruling implies that the only distinction between the Palestinian and Israeli workers is that the former are Palestinians, residents of the Palestinian Authority. This distinction on the basis of nationality is improper and tantamount to discrimination... applying a foreign law to Palestinian workers and the Israeli law to Israeli ones infringes on the Palestinians' basic rights and discriminates against them, although they all work together," he wrote.