Israel Increases Work Permits to Counter Terror Attacks
JERUSALEM, Israel – In an effort to decrease the incentive for carrying out terror attacks, Israel will issue an additional 30,000 work permits to Palestinian Arabs living in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).
That's approximately the same number of Arab residents entering the country illegally every day to work.
Rife unemployment in areas under Palestinian Authority control, especially among younger men, makes daily life bleak for many families.
Currently, some 55,000 Arab residents who hold work permits and pass security checks are given the documentation they need to work in Israel, according to Bank of Israel data.
Most terror attacks are carried out by Arabs who enter illegally without work permits, although there are occasional exceptions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long advocated helping the P.A. develop the infrastructure needed to advance the economy and improve people's lives.
But some P.A. leaders continue to focus more on anti-Israel incitement and propaganda instead of cooperation, to the detriment of its own people. Despite those who blame Israel for every woe, economic or otherwise, others see the benefit of cooperating with Israelis rather than harming them.
Education Minister and Jewish Home Party chairman Naftali Bennett called on the government to issue 100,000 work permits, which he too believes will reduce the incentive to terrorism.
Bennett says people with work permits rarely carry out terror attacks and economic and educational incentives are the most effective way to work toward genuine coexistence in the country.
