August 2014

UNDER ISRAELI SIEGE, GAZA’S CHILDREN MUST WORK LEST THEIR FAMILIES STARVE

Whole family including children has to chip in to survive.

By Mohammed Omer

            Under the watchful eye of the shop manager, 13-year-old Abdullah removes the wheel from a car with speed and agility, his young muscles flexing as he twists the wrench on each bolt. When he’s done, he slides out from under the car.

            “I have to work, earn money to help support my four brothers and parents,” the boy explains.

            According to Palestinian labour laws, Abdullah shouldn’t be here. He should be at school, reading textbooks and learning math. But economic necessity has forced this young man, and tens of thousands of others, to forgo pencils for the tools of labour.

            Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip began in 2007, after Hamas won parliamentary elections described by international election observers as “free and fair.” Israel was swift to impose a harsh collective punishment on a population some 60% of which are under the age of 18. The draconian measures included the suspension of basic civil rights, shortages of water, electricity, food and gasoline, and a scarcity in basic materials ranging from paper to building supplies.

            Prior to imposing its siege, Israeli health officials calculated the absolute minimum number of calories required by each person in Gaza to avoid starvation. These figures were then used to determine exactly what and how much food Israel would allow into Gaza, and when, as well as what it would not. Calories rather than nutrition were counted. Dov Weissglas, an adviser to the Israeli government at the time, famously referred to Israel’s siege and dietary calculations as “an appointment with a dietician,” adding, “the Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won’t die.”

            In addition to food scarcity, residents of the Manhattan-sized enclave also endure midnight raids and arrests, while ducking regular assaults by Israeli military snipers, helicopter gunships, F-16s, patrol boats, tanks, military bulldozers, ground troops and the ever-present checkpoints that prevent them from leaving Gaza, conducting trade or allowing others to come in. Gaza used to receive 600 truckloads of essential goods daily. Today Israel allows just 160 trucks in.

            The result of these policies and practices is hyper-unemployment, conditions of near-starvation and extreme stress, and a drastically deteriorating quality of life. Indeed, rather than life, Gazans have been reduced to a never-ending struggle for mere survival.

            As a result, in 2013 Abdullah was forced to divide his time between school and a mechanic’s shop. “My father was a professional tailor,” he tells the Washington Report, “but needed surgery in Egypt and is now unable to work.”

            Abdullah’s story is more common than not. He is one of tens of thousands of children in Gaza compelled by desperation to enter the workforce for minimal pay and no benefits — a situation reminiscent of the early days of the Industrial Revolution. Now as then, children work in conditions that are often dangerous. Many are injured as they put their childhood lives on hold to help feed their families.

            In another instance, Abu Yousef, a farmer in Gaza, enlists his own children, several under the age of 12, to work on the farm. “I have no choice but to ask my son, daughter and wife to work, so the farm and family can survive. I can’t afford to hire workers,” he explains, adding that nearly all his family members work in agriculture.

Palestinian Labour Law

            Under Palestinian labour laws, children under 15 years of age are exempt from working in industries using heavy machinery, as well as other high-risk jobs. Despite the fact that the law calls for the protection of children, due to ongoing poverty, desperation and the surreal environment that defines Gaza, law and practice often are at odds.

            Mustapha Ibrahim of The Independent Commission for Human Rights advocates for control over child labour.

            “Unemployment and poverty rates are increasing dangerously,” he warns, “affecting many Palestinian families who are compelled to ask their children to enter the labour market. We see children working in different places, whether selling on the roads, streets or in workshops, and that is a violation of Palestinian law and the child labour law.”

            Ibrahim admits that children are not even paid a fair wage. It is typical for a child to be paid just $100 for working an entire month of 12-hour days. Historically children have worked in Gaza, often as apprentices in the family business. Prior to  2002 and the second intifada, approximately 30,000 children worked in Gaza. Since the inception of Israel’s siege, however, according to the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Workers’ Rights, that figure has more than tripled, to 100,000 working children.

            Wael Mashrawi, 13, works in a mechanic’s shop in East Gaza City. His family’s impoverished situation has forced him to work 12 hours a day, for which he earns $8 a week — or about 9 cents an hour. This buys him nothing in Gaza.

            As the oldest son of his father’s second wife, he is responsible for feeding his 12 younger brothers. “I have no other option, I had to drop out of school in order for my brothers to survive,” he tells the Washington Report. 

            Poverty is a driving factor behind this exponential increase in child labour, says the Center’s Nidal Ghaben, who notes that there is a “need for families to improve their economic conditions, and the educational environment is filled with physical and verbal violence.”

            The Ministry of Labour has established a committee to address this escalation in child labour, partnering with local and international NGOs to reduce the number of children working by 20%, to 80,000.

            According to Mohammed Al Haddad of the Ministry of Workers, inspectors are monitoring businesses throughout the Gaza Strip, directing business owners not to hire underage children, in accordance with Article 10 of Palestinian law.

            Meanwhile, like tens of thousands of Gaza’s children, Abdullah remains caught between two worlds: the one in which he exists and the one he, as a child, deserves.

            “I am forced to work because we have no money and no food,” he states simply.

            As long as the Israeli siege continues, a happy ending for Abdullah and his fellow child workers is elusive. If human rights groups and the government are successful in convincing employers not to hire children, Abdullah can return to school. But returning to school isn’t an option — because then there will be no food on his family’s table. –Third World Network Features.

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About the author: Award-winning journalist Mohammed Omer reports from the Gaza Strip, where he maintains the Web site <www.rafahtoday.org>. He can be reached at <gazanews@yahoo.com>. Follow him on Twitter: @MoGaza.

The above article is reproduced from the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August 2014

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