Workers and business owners based in the Israeli settlements in the West Bank have warned that Labour’s plans to ban goods from the area risk doing more harm than good.
Announcing the sanctions this week, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the measures would target ‘illegal settlements and settlement expansion’, alleging that there had been ‘ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists’.
It follows growing pressure for action to curb violence in the West Bank amid reports of some 1,400 attacks by Israeli settlers this year and continuing concerns over Palestinian violence and security threats.
At the heart of the row is the controversial E1 project, which plans to build more than 3,400 settler homes across 4.6 square miles at a site directly east of Jerusalem.
Britain – and many around the world –fear the planned construction will effectively divide the West Bank and undermine the viability of a future Palestinian state.
Supporters dispute this, pointing to plans for a transport system entitled ‘Fabric of Life Road’ they say would preserve Palestinian travel between the northern and southern West Bank.
But many locals are worried that, rather than supporting Palestinians, Labour’s sanctions regime is instead putting their livelihoods at risk.
While the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, have strongly backed the British countermeasures, labelling them an ‘important step’, on the ground views were much more complex.
Pictured: The area where E1 settlement homes will be built east of Jerusalem
‘The British Government is making a big mistake,’ said Samech, an Arab-Israeli businessman from Jerusalem. ‘They are punishing 7,000 Palestinians who come to work in just this commercial centre every day.’
Samech employs 20 Palestinians and eight Israelis at his West Bank construction business, Aleph Samech, which will be hit by the trade ban. His business supports more than 28 different families. ‘It’s terrible,’ he said.
While it does not export goods, it supplies businesses that do, meaning his firm will suffer a knock-on effect. ‘Politics doesn’t interest us; it’s ugly, everyone else’s meddling and politics is what causes all the problems for us. We all live here side by side, we all look out for each other,’ he added.
The sentiment was echoed by dozens of Palestinian workers who told the Daily Mail they were worried the measures introduced in their name could instead cost them jobs and leave families without vital income.
Ibrahim, from the city of Jericho, has worked at Maya Food Industries in the West Bank’s Mishor Adumim industrial park for 20 years. ‘Politics should be kept separate. There are going to be a lot of problems from this,’ he said.
It was also of little surprise to anyone in the area that the British embassy in Tel Aviv had reportedly warned the Government that it was ‘not possible’ to implement trade restrictions on West Bank settlements without hammering the 17,600 Palestinians who work here.
Mr Miliband has also said his plan will not be implemented for six to nine months, raising questions about how such a ban could even work, creating more uncertainty.
Ilan Amoyel, marketing manager of Maya Food Industries, said he was furious at Britain’s meddling.
Plea: Ibrahim and Ilan at Maya Food Industries in the West Bank
‘I would invite him [Mr Miliband] to come here and look at the employees who will actually be hurt in the end,’ he said. ‘They are at the bottom of the food chain, and ultimately they are the ones who get hurt.’
Maya Food Industries is a major Israeli food manufacturer that employs hundreds of people including around 350 Palestinians. It is typical of the businesses Mr Miliband’s sanctions appear designed to target.
The company exports around one million euros (£860,000) worth of goods to Britain alone each year. But uncertainty over the sanctions has already prompted the company to reduce working days for some employees.
‘If our exports go down, obviously there is less work, and the majority of our employees are Palestinian,’ Mr Amoyel said.
For workers such as Ibrahim, the political battle being fought over Israeli settlements could have a devastating effect on his life. He is not only supporting his family but numerous others in the West Bank.
Ten other employees at the warehouse, who did not want to be named, said they were ‘upset’ and ‘worried’ by the news of the sanctions, describing the Government’s policy as ‘misguided.’
Guy Yifrach, the mayor of the West Bank city of Ma’ale Adumim, said: ‘Our industrial zone is a hub of employment and coexistence for Jews and Arabs.
‘Behind every factory are workers and families. Anyone seeking to harm our industry is harming livelihoods on both sides.’
Mr Amoyel said Palestinian employees could earn substantially more at his company than they would in Palestinian-controlled areas.
‘We pay them double, and some people here make three times as much,’ he said.
‘They get all the benefits, they get the holidays, they get everything. We treat them exactly as we treat ourselves.’
At this, Ibrahim put his arm round the manager and said warmly: ‘All this man does is smile every day.’
One imagines if Mr Miliband took him up on his offer of a visit, this cheerful marketing manager would not be smiling any more.
