On May Day, International Workers’ Day, researcher Abdel Nasser Ferwana reported that two-thirds of Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli occupation jails are workers and labourers, saying that the majority of Palestinians arrested were working class Palestinians. Ferwana noted that arrests of Palestinians were not confined to those actively engaged in struggling against occupation, but also included thousands of workers seeking to reach work in order to make a living, or denied permits to enter Israel to work.
Thousands of workers in Gaza have been arrested and even once freed, are now part of the massive army of the unemployed in Gaza due to the economic conditions in the Strip and the difficulties of leaving and returning for work due to the siege. He also noted that many former prisoners cannot work due to the health effects of their time in prison, saying that former prisoners need care and assistance in order to support their lives free of the ocupation prisons.
