Coordinating with Hamas, Israel increased the number of Palestinian laborers from the Gaza Strip allowed to work in the country, and this seems to be the main reason for the relative quiet along the border with the coastal enclave in recent days.I have seen in the past that COGAT would list hundreds of Gaza businessmen as exiting and returning to the sector, I didn't know they were laborers.
The move was not announced to the Israeli public. Like other relief efforts recently approved by Israel's political leadership and defense establishment as part of the understandings reached through mediation by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations, this decision, too, was not officially disclosed in Israel.
Gaza's head of the Chamber of Commerce, Maher Tabbaa, told the Saudi-owned Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper over the weekend that Israel promised to greatly increase the number of permits for Gaza businessmen to enter Israel. The number of permit holders rose by two-thirds, from 3,000 to 5,000, he noted, adding that the minimum age for entering Israel was lowered from 30 to 25, said Tabbaa.
This is an old trick, which Israel has used occasionally for the past few years. The permit holders are described as businessmen but in practice it seems the majority of them are workers – manual laborers. Before the rounds of escalation began in March 2018, such laborers were a rather rare sight in Israeli cities in the south.
I see nothing wrong with Israelis employing laborers from Gaza, as long as the proper security checks are done.
For there to be calm, Israel needs Palestinian leaders to support calm. The only way to accomplish that is to give them something they will lose if there are attacks.
Thousands of Gazans who simply want work will energize the Gaza economy with Israeli salaries, and Hamas wants that to happen. More importantly, it doesn't want to lose it.
Over the past week, a relative calm has returned to the Gaza border region: The number of incendiary balloons has dropped and Hamas has also avoided renewing the violent night-time protests, which it sometimes held along the border fence. Last Friday's protest was also relatively quiet. Now, we can understand why.it is also why Netanyahu increased the fishing zone a couple of weeks ago - even immediately after attacks. Hamas must have something to lose in order step up and act against the other terrorists.