The Israeli government on Thursday approved the entry of 5,000 more Palestinian workers into the country.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz suggested the extra permits in an effort to improve ties with the Palestinian Authority and to bolster Israel’s construction industry, the Finance Ministry said.
The 5,000 permits will bring the total number issued to Palestinians in recent months to 10,000.
The laborers will be employed in the agriculture and construction industries.
In the 2000s, Israel moved away from Palestinian labor because of security concerns, welcoming instead thousands of workers from the Far East to take their place as cheap farm hands or construction workers.
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However, nationalist sentiment has recently turned against migrant workers, many of whom stay beyond the amount of time allotted by their permits, and authorities have once again turned to Palestinians to fill the low-paying jobs.
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