"Court denies equal work conditions for Palestinians in West Bank legal no-mans-land", 19 July 2015

The National Labor Court on Sunday denied three Palestinians who work in a factory in the Nitzanei Shalom industrial area near Tulkarm equal work conditions to Israelis in a ruling that may have implications for both Israeli-Palestinian work relations and the diplomatic process. The court ruled that the factory’s location is essentially a legal no-man’s-land because of its special circumstances. The case concerned whether the Palestinian workers’ legal rights should be determined by Israeli law or 1967 Jordanian law, as the industrial workspace is located in Area C of the West Bank...the High Court of Justice issued a 2007 ruling stating that Palestinians who lived in the West Bank but worked for Israelis in the Givat Ze’ev settlement were entitled to the same work conditions as Israelis. This included pay, vacation days and termination pay. The precedent spurred hopes for the Palestinian workers, and their supporters at Combatants for Peace and the Wac-Maan Workers Advice Center, that the court would adopt a similar position in this case. The court ruled for the employers in this case, however, because it said that the industrial zone near Tulkarm, where the factory is situated, falls into a special category because it is part of a joint effort agreed under the Oslo Accords. The purpose of that agreement was to supply jobs to Palestinians. For that reason the court ruled that Jordanian, not Israeli law, should apply...