Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot backs admitting Palestinian workers — Jerusalem Post
In Israel, Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot said that it may be appropriate to allow Palestinian family breadwinners to work in the country following security screening and under the supervision of the Shin Bet security service. This was stated in an opinion column by Nabil Kukali published in the Jerusalem Post, which cites Eisenkot’s August 27 interview with Israel Hayom.
According to the column, Eisenkot believed that a broad ban on the entry of Palestinian workers had not prevented unauthorized entry. At the same time, he did not promise to fully open Israel’s labor market to Palestinians, did not specify the number of people who could return to work, and did not set a timeframe for such a decision.
Employment and movement
The author notes that the Palestinian economy is closely linked to Israel through the movement of workers and goods, clearance revenues, banking settlements, and the use of the Israeli shekel. According to a survey by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, whose founder and president is the column’s author, 59.9% of respondents described restrictions on employment in Israel and a reduction in the number of permits as a significant economic challenge. Another 79.3% of those surveyed cited unemployment and a lack of jobs, while 70.2% pointed to declining incomes and purchasing power.
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In April 2026, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported 925 movement obstacles in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. These included 89 checkpoints operating around the clock, 218 partial checkpoints, and 232 road gates.
Palestinian Authority finances
According to an analysis by Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, the amount of clearance revenues actually transferred to the Palestinian Authority after deductions declined from approximately 8.8 billion shekels in 2022 to 7.9 billion in 2023, 4.4 billion in 2024, and about 2 billion shekels in 2025. More than 4 billion shekels were withheld in 2025. Eisenkot did not disclose a separate program regarding these funds.
Reuters reported on September 1 that Israel Discount Bank and Bank Hapoalim would continue providing correspondent banking services to Palestinian banks through the end of 2026. About 51 billion shekels in transactions pass through these channels annually, and approximately 90% of Palestinian trade depends on access to Israel’s financial system.
