Israeli housing sector wants to employ 1 lakh Indians, excluding Palestinians

Palestinian workers are returning to Palestine after work from Israel. Photo: AFP The Hamas-Israel war has brought economic misery to the lives of Palestinians. Palestinian workers are being excluded from the Israeli housing sector to prolong that misery. Instead, Israel can employ about 100,000 Indians there. Discussions are going on with India on this issue.

The Indian newspaper Telegraph India reported this information with reference to the report of the US media Voice of America. VOA interviewed Haim Feiglin, an Israeli housing businessman and vice president of the Israel Builders Association in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank. In that interview he gave the said information.

The work permits of about 90,000 Palestinians working in the country have been canceled since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7. Israeli housing traders have requested the government to allow 1 lakh Indians to work instead of them.

Haim Feiglin, Vice President of the Israel Builders Association told Voice of America, ‘Currently we are discussing the issue with India. We are waiting for the Israeli government to give us permission for this. We hope that 50,000 to 1 lakh Indians will be employed in this sector and that the sector will return to normal soon.’

Feiglin said 25 percent of Israeli housing workers are Palestinian. But after the start of the Hamas-Israel war, the Israeli housing sector was severely hampered by a lack of workers. “We’re going through a war situation,” Feiglin said. And because of this, 25 percent of our housing workers, who are not yet able to come to Palestinian work, are not given the opportunity to work in Israel.

However, the Indian government has not yet made any official comment on the matter.