Ignoring Arab women, ministry Okays 3,000 new foreign workers

Haaretz "Israeli" newspaper reported that as 1,168 Arab women interested in working in the agricultural sector awaited a response to their job applications, the Agriculture Ministry approved the entry of 3,000 new foreign workers in the past few months.

In January 2008, Ma'an, the Workers Advice Center, approached Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon (Labor) and offered to recruit 1,000 agricultural workers immediately.

After a long correspondence, only eight were hired by two employers. Other requests to hire more were ignored.

Assaf Adiv, the head of Ma'an, said the organization now has 1,168 Arab women who want to work in agriculture. If farmers would pay minimum wage, they could easily find 10,000 women, he said.

The Arabs in the occupied territories have never been recognized by the "Israeli" entity as regular citizens who have rights and should enjoy them. Instead, they have been consistently ignored and have often resulted in discrimination by the Israeli Government.