Power failure sees hundreds of Palestinians enter West Bank industrial zone unchecked

Chaos erupts at a West Bank crossing near the Mishor Adumim industrial zone, as an electricity failure causes extreme congestion in the inspection line for Palestinian workers and leads hundreds to breach the fence to reach work.

“Hundreds of laborers entered the Mishor Adumim industrial zone en masse without a security check this morning,” the municipality of the nearby Maale Adumim settlement-city says in an attempt to calm local fears of a mass infiltration resembling Hamas’s October 7 onslaught.

מישור אדומים הבוקר: טרמינל הבידוק לא עובד, כמה מדברים על שב״חים? הרבה. תיעוד איך הם נכנסים בהמוניהם למקום בלי שום בידוד בלי כלום. ???? pic.twitter.com/m3RJfCNFyl

— Yossi Eli (@Yossi_eli) February 1, 2024

“The stream of entrants has been partially blocked and police and Border Police forces have been called in and begun individual checking,” it adds.

The area is one of few in which the employment of Palestinians has partially resumed following the October 7 massacre in a limited, government-approved capacity.

Despite authorities’ attempts to downplay the incident, Avi Rachamim, the top security official in the Maale Adumim Municipality, resigns in protest, saying in a Facebook post that the current situation “can’t go on” and saying he has repeatedly warned against letting Palestinian workers back in to the industrial zone.

He says he has been demanding a civil guard or other expanded security measures but these have been rejected, and accused the government and the security establishment of abandoning Maale Adumim’s residents.