Of course rising Palestinian low-skilled labor hurts Israeli low-skilled labor. More jobs for Palestinians means less jobs for Israelis - but that's a good thing here, for political reasons. More jobs for Palestinians means more economic stability which means a greater chance of peace. Don't like it? Want more jobs for Israelis? The answer isn't to cut Palestinians out of the market but to encourage the creation of more jobs - cut corporate taxes and watch Israelis get jobs as a result.

Just as the occupation has created a situation where our people relate badly to the occupied then bring that home, the employment of "cheap" labor has created a situation where every one is related to in a "cheap" way. We don't need to relinquish the territories for them. We need to do it for us. Real labor Unions would help too.

day. And an Israeli with skills or not earning the minimum wage gets 165.60. Is there something wrong here? Put a 1,000 shekel security tax on each pali that is employed. Also 100,000 shekel fine and six months in prison for each illegally employed pali or other foreigner.

if this report were true, why has the state imported so many Filipinos and other foreign nationals to serve as unskilled labourers? The importing only started after the first intefada, when the state realised that they would not be able to rely on Arab labour, and is now a policy aimed at destroying - or at least not contributing to - the Palestinian economy. This whole article smacks of right-wing propaganda.

Unfortunately, Israelis don't want to work. Ask the Moshavim in the south how many workers they get from Ofakim, for instance, where the unemployment is so high. Even higher wages won't bring them into the fields or the hothouses. Palestinians, and others, work.