Israel - Palestinian workers denied rights - suspended and dismissed after strike (2010)

In October, around 80 Palestinian workers, members of the Jahleen Bedouin tribe in the city of Ma’aleh Adumim, went on strike after their municipal employers refused to allow more workers to attend Friday prayers. As a result the authorities ordered the dismissal of three employees, threatened three others with dismissal and suspended 14 other employees. The gardening and sanitation workers come under locally applied Jordanian law, which is not extended to Palestinians. Jordanian labour law was applied in the territories in 1965, and while recent amendments have made the legislation more progressive these amendments are not applied to Palestinians. Lawyers filed a suit on their behalf at the regional labour court asking that Israeli labour law be applied, which would allow them restricted rights to strike as well as improved working conditions.