Border Police pressing Givat Ze’ev to tighten security regarding Palestinian workers — report

Border Police are reportedly pressing the West Bank settlement of Givat Ze’ev to tighten its security provisions regarding Palestinian workers, two weeks after police nabbed seven guards suspected of helping smuggle laborers into the town.

In a letter obtained by the Ynet news outlet, Chief Supt. Eliyahu Touboul informs the chairman of the local council that law enforcement has received a flurry of complaints reporting violations of the security arrangements meant to monitor Palestinians in the town’s employ.

The senior policeman notes that since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks, the government has barred Palestinian laborers from entering Israeli towns with the exception of a select few workers, who must first clear a round of background checks and remain under constant surveillance by armed guards while on the clock.

But Givat Ze’ev, a settlement just north of Jerusalem that contracts a private security firm to perform these duties, has been excessively lax regarding the matter, Touboul claims.

According to his letter, one of the entrances to the settlement was ordered closed by the Zion Region police commander due to technical issues with the gate.

Jewish residents also filed police complaints about Palestinian workers resting near schools and synagogues, as well as riding buses in the settlement, acts that go against the police’s restrictions, the letter adds.

In a statement to Ynet, the local council insists that the “claims raised in the letter stand in complete contradiction to the understandings and work procedures that were approved and coordinated directly with the regional [police] commander.”

The council adds that it “does not compromise on the issue,” noting that its chairman, Yossi Assaraf, transferred information to the police that led to the arrest of the seven security guards who facilitated the illegal entry of Palestinian workers in exchange for bribes.

In the wake of October 7, Israel all but shut its doors to Palestinians seeking work in Israel, severely limiting work permits for West Bank residents and categorically barring Gazans from the Israeli labor market.

As of this past summer, the number of Palestinian workers in Israel stood at just 11% of the pre-October 7 figure.