Israel Electric Corporation Pulled the Plug on Nablus and Jenin Over Unfounded Debts

On Monday, February 23, the Israel Electric Corporation temporarily disconnected the grids feeding the occupied northern West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin, as well as all areas receiving power from the Palestinian Northern West Bank Electricity Company. A statement issued by the Palestinian company indicated: “Today, the Israel Electric Corporation limited for 45 minutes…

ICL workers demonstrate in Be’er-Sheba against planned layoffs at the Israel Chemicals Bromine Compound, February 10, 2015.

Workers at Israel Chemicals Protest Planned Layoffs

On Tuesday, February 10, workers at the Israel Chemicals (ICL) Bromine Compound in the Negev demonstrated against the announced intention to fire 140 members of the staff at their plant. They were joined outside the corporation’s headquarters in Be’er-Sheba by employees from the Dead Sea Works, also owned by the privatized Israel Chemicals, who are…

Palestinian Economy Pushed into Recession by Gaza War

Last week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that mounting political tensions and the war between Israel and Gaza during the summer drove the combined Palestinian economy of Gaza and the West Bank into its first contraction since 2006. While the West Bank economy actually grew by 4.5 percent in 2014, in Gaza economic activity declined…

Inbal Herrmoni, an activist in the Social Workers' Union, speaks before a demonstration in Tel-Aviv against unilateral measures taken by the Welfare Ministry detrimental to its workers.

Welfare Ministry Employees Hold One-Day Warning Strike

On Wednesday, January 28, employees of the Welfare and Social Services Ministry held a one-day warning strike to protest “unilateral changes” being implemented by the ministry. With the approval of the Union of Social Workers and the Histadrut labor federation, some 3,000 workers – probation officers, social workers, and child investigators – went on strike,…

MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) during a debate held in the Knesset, last year, in support of legislation to increase the minimum wage to NIS 30 an hour, which comes to NIS 5,300 a month for full time employees.

MK Khenin: A Good Law to Conclude a Bad Knesset

On Wednesday, January 21, in a stormy, election-season session in which politicians lobbed at one another mutual accusations over attempts to take credit for the popular measure, the Knesset approved a bill to raise the minimum wage in Israel. MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) responded with satisfaction to the Knesset’s passing of the minimum wage bill,…

A demonstration in Jerusalem, last November, against oil drilling in the Golan Heights.

Israel Drilling for Oil in Occupied Golan Heights

Heavily subsidized Israeli settlements, extensive military areas, and tanks dot the rolling green hills of the Golan Heights, Syrian territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war. It is here that Afek Oil and Gas, an Israeli company, has been granted exclusive license to conduct exploratory drilling for oil. Afek is a subsidiary…