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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 April 2000 Issue No. 476 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 April 2000 Issue No. 476
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Summit Features Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters For one's daily bread
By Lola KeilaniThat the peace dividend promised six years ago when Jordan signed its peace treaty with Israel has not materialised was tragically underlined by the murder last week of two Jordanians working illegally in Israel.
"The government had pledged that peace would decrease unemployment, and the economy would revive. What we did not know was that unemployment would decrease through Jordanians working as slaves in Israel," said an angry student.
Mohamed Abdallah Yassin and Murad Abdel-Karim, both Jordanians under 20 years of age, were killed last week in an explosion at a hotel in the resort city of Eilat, where they were employed.
The two, along with a third who survived, were working at the Etzion Hotel when an explosion occurred in a boiler room. The third escaped unharmed and was being questioned by police.
Although initial reports claimed that the two might have been smoking near a gas canister in an enclosed area when the explosion took place, the investigation led to the arrest of three Israelis.
Police have charged Moshe Maman, 29, of Beersheba, and Ilan Khajaj, 37, of Eilat, with the murder of Yassin and Abdel-Karim. A female suspect, Merav Jian, 22, of Eilat, was charged with obstructing the investigation into the incident.
Police reports indicated that Yassin and Abdel-Karim, were killed following a dispute over money, the details of which have not yet been disclosed.
A senior official in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality, where there is a large population of Jordanian labourers, recently told the Jordan Times that many illegal labourers find themselves vulnerable to theft, extortion and poor working conditions, but do not seek police or other official assistance for fear of losing their jobs and being deported.
The situation of Yassin and Abdel-Karim, is similar to that of an estimated 40,000 Jordanians believed to be working illegally in Israel.
According to analysts, Jordan's high inflation and unemployment along with low salaries, have pushed many of the Hashemite Kingdom's citizens to seek work in Israel despite their antipathy for that state as well as the difficult living conditions there.
The Jordanian government estimates that unemployment in the kingdom is 15 per cent of the workforce, while independent estimates claim that it may be as high as 27 per cent. Statistics show that since the peace treaty the unemployment rate has increased.
It is estimated that the average daily earnings of a labourer are $10 in Jordan, while they can reach up to $70 in Israel.
Since the signing of the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty in 1994, no bilateral agreement on movement of labour has been signed. However, last month, Jordan and Israel signed an agreement on a pilot project under which 200 Jordanians would cross from Aqaba each day into neighboring Eilat to work, mainly in the service sector.
The project is set to begin at the end of April or early May. If it is successful, Israeli officials have said, it could be expanded to other areas.
