Israel bets on India to take its construction sector forward after war with Hamas ends

Construction works in Israel have come to a standstill since the October 7 Hamas attack. To resume activity, the Israeli construction industry has asked the Benjamin Netanyahu government to allow companies to hire up to 1 lakh India workers to replace the 90,000 Palestinians whose work permits have been cancelled since the conflict began. A report by Voice of America quoted vice-president of the Israel Builders Association, Haim Feiglin, saying: “Right now we are negotiating with India. We are waiting for the decision of the Israeli government to approve that and we hope to 50,000 to 100,000 workers from India to be able to run the sector and bring it back to normal.” Feiglin further said, the situation of Israeli construction sector, right now, is “quite complicated”. A report by The Telegraph said there was no response from India’s Ministry of External Affairs on the report or on whether the country would let Indians move to a conflict zone for construction work. As per Feiglin, Palestinian workers account for about 25 per cent of workforce employed in Israel’s construction sector. They have been restricted from returning to work since October 7. “Right now the situation of Israeli construction sector is quite complicated. We are war. Palestinian workers, which are about 25 per cent of our human resources in the sector, are not coming as they are no longer permitted to work in Israel,” he said. Reports say nearly 10 per cent of the Palestinian workers are from Gaza, which is at the centre of the Israel-Palestine war, and the rest are from the West Bank. It may be recalled that in the month of May, this year, Tel Aviv signed an agreement with New Delhi to allow 42,000 Indians to work in Israel – particularly in a construction sector faced with a labour shortage, besides nursing. The Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Temporary Employment of Workers in Specific Labour Market Sectors in Israel was initiated on May 9 during Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen’s India visit. Israel deports Palestinian workers to Gaza Israel, last Thursday, announced that it was revoking the workers’ permits and began deporting thousands of Palestinian workers from Gaza Strip to the besieged territory. The Voice of America report quoted Samir Huleileh, an economist and former Cabinet secretary for the Palestinian authority, saying: “Before the war started, about 140,000 Palestinians from the West Bank worked illegally or legally in Israel before the war with Hamas started on October 7.” Some workers, streaming by foot through an Israeli crossing that had been sealed shut since Hamas unleashed its brutal attack on southern Israel on October 7, told of violent mistreatment by Israeli authorities in detention centres.