The IDF's Huwwara checkpoint between Israel and the Palestinian city of Nablus. Palestinians who cross over into Israel for work, or those who work beyond the 1949 armistice line (Green Line), earn higher wages than those Palestinians employed by the PA or in Gaza, according to a new survey. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – A European Union-funded survey conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) between October and December of 2014 shows that Palestinians working in Israeli-controlled territory earn more than double the wages of Palestinians working in Palestinian Authority (PA)-controlled areas of the West Bank.

In Israeli-controlled areas, the average daily wage for Palestinians was 194.2 shekels, while in PA-controlled areas the the average daily wage was only 91.4 shekels. Meanwhile, the average wage in Hamas-controlled Gaza was 66.1 shekels a day.

Last September, the PA’s official daily newspaper went as far congratulating Israeli employers for their positive gestures toward Palestinian employees, Palestinian Media Watch reported.

“Whenever Palestinian workers have the opportunity to work for Israeli employers, they are quick to quit their jobs with their Palestinian employers—for reasons having to do with salaries and other rights,” the PA’s Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper stated on Sept. 21, 2014.

“The [Israeli] work conditions are very good, and include transportation, medical insurance and pensions. These things do not exist with Palestinian employers,” the newspaper added.

About 105,200 Palestinians were employed by Israelis by the end of 2014. Among that group, 20,200 are working beyond the 1949 armistice line (Green Line). About a quarter (26.5 percent) of Palestinians in the workforce were unemployed at that time.

Read the full survey here.