Building Slavery in Israel

Nir Nader, film producer with Video 48, Israel

Video 48 was started by the Hanitzotz Publishing House in Israel, which produces “Challenge”, the quarterly magazine on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Video 48 aims to document the situation of Palestinians who remained within Israel after the war of 1948, hence its name. And when it comes to documentation video is a powerful medium.

Nader’s most recent film, “A Job to Win”, examines exploitation and slavery in Israel with the use of foreign workers and at the expense of Israeli Arabs. It shows how the Israeli political crisis and globalisation made 35,000 Arab construction workers unemployed in the 90s and records the struggle they are waging to get back to employment with the help of the Workers Advice Centre (that’s WAC not WACC!).

How did 35,000 Israeli-Arab construction workers loose their jobs? From 1992 onwards Palestinians from the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza could not get to work because of closure - restrictions of their movement. In Israel the result was a shortage of construction workers. So, rather than loosen restrictions and allow Arab construction workers to work, the Israeli government issued permits for building contractors to import foreign labour from poor countries such as China.

In came a wave of cheap labour from poor countries, which was unorganised and easy to exploit. This exploited labour is so cheap Israeli Arabs cannot compete. The hidden profits for Israeli contractors is worth millions of dollars. Besides which, widespread racism, shown clearly in the documentary, also works against the Arabs. So, the foreign workforce replaced the local labour.

In a shot from "A Job to Win" Israeli Arabs protest about the use of slave labour displacing them from employment.

To show the forces at work in the construction industry Nir Nader and Video '48 follow the Minister of Labour, the President of the Contractors' Association, the manager of the Employment Service and managers at building sites. They also follow building workers associated with the “back to the building site” campaign of the Worker’s Advice Centre and its success in challenging powerful players in construction industry to get 400 Arab builders back to work.

This film follows hot on the heels of “Not in My Garden”, also supported by WACC, a documentary about the expanding Israeli City of Carmiel and the neighbouring Bedouin village of Ramya.

Ramya is an “unrecognised village” and the film shows the plight of the Arab population living there. Inhabitants live in shacks alongside their Israeli neighbours whose beautiful houses are of stone. The Israeli state has tried to remove the Arabs from their land to build houses for Jewish immigrants. The Arabs are considered, at best, to be an inconvenience. They are not provided with even the most basic service or infrastructure and are completely deprived of sharing in the development of Israel.

“The premise of Israel's land establishment” says Nir “was that the Ramyans should all move to another Arab village in order to make room for Jewish immigrants. When the campaign of Hanitzotz sidetracked this plan, the authorities, with the help of the Arab leaders, persuaded the Ramyans to sign an agreement in 1995: they were to move 150 meters to the west, where they would receive the infrastructure for an Arab neighbourhood within Carmiel. They would lose a certain amount of land, but they would gain the elements of civilisation, such as piped water and electricity.

So what was the catch? The agreement failed to specify the timing. There was no commitment by Carmiel to build the new Ramya neighbourhood before taking over the land. Now the villagers are still in the same tin shacks”.
Nader explains that "Video 48 deals with documentation and education. The Palestinian question and that of Arabs in Israel are the main concerns of our group. We want to unveil the racist practices of Israel, whether in the Occupied Territories or in Israel itself. In one place they shoot with guns, in the other with laws. In both cases, Palestinian society suffers. We want to side with those who will change this reality.”

Links
Hanitzotz: www.hanitzotz.com/
Video 48: www.hanitzotz.com/video.htm
Challenge:www.hanitzotz.com/challenge/

Other work in Israel/Palestine supported by WACC
International Centre of Bethlehem
www.annadwa.org

See also
Sabeel, Grassroots Ecumenical Liberation Theology group among Palestinian Christians
www.sabeel.org