A number of Palestinian workers were injured on Sunday morning when the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) attacked them near al-Khalil and Tulkarem in the West Bank.
A reporter for the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) said that two workers were wounded by live bullets when Israeli soldiers opened fire at them near a hole in the separation wall in Idhna town west of al-Khalil.
Other workers suffered from inhaling tear gas when the IOF attacked them during their presence near at-Taybeh checkpoint in the west of Tulkarem.
Palestinian workers usually uses holes in barriers separating the West Bank from 1948 occupied Palestine to go to work but following recent resistance operations now these gaps have been closed and the entire barriers have been placed under constant military surveillance.
According to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem many Palestinian workmen have no choice but to risk entering Israel without permits.
“They are caught between a rock and hard place: On one hand Israel issues permits sparingly based on arbitrarily chosen stringent criteria. On the other hand it prevents the development of an independent Palestinian economy by restricting imports exports industrial development and movement and by taking over land reserves and other Palestinian resources. This leaves Palestinians with no possibility to make a substantial living within the West Bank. This reality serves Israeli interests as it guarantees cheap [and] disempowered labor” B’Tselem says.
