The situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories

The Report was prepared, as in previous years, following high-level missions to Israel and the occupied Arab territories (the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan) and to the Syrian Arab Republic. The missions enjoyed once more the full cooperation of the interlocutors, reaffirming the support for the ILO's efforts to contribute to building peace and security in the region through monitoring and assessing economic and social development in our fields of competence. A new climate of dialogue prevails among Israelis and Palestinians, opening up new prospects. Conditions of life for workers and their families in the occupied Arab territories nevertheless continue to be extremely hard. The intricate linkages between economic, social and political development on the one hand, and peace and security on the other, have to be at the forefront of our thinking in addressing the pervasive and continued problems of daily life faced by the people of the occupied Arab territories. This is the underlying premise behind ILO efforts in the region and elsewhere: economic and social security is a condition of lasting peace. As the United Nations Secretary-General puts it in his report entitled In larger freedom:"We will not enjoy development without security, we will not enjoy security without development, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights"(1). The rights of Palestinian workers and their families are a fundamental component of human rights and therefore constitute one of the building blocks on the path towards socio-economic development, security, peace and enhanced freedom in the occupied Arab territories. This is why the Governing Body of the International Labour Office and the International Labour Conference have ascribed a constructive role to the ILO in helping, through its programmes, to improve the lives of working men and women and their families in the region. In this respect, the enhanced programme of technical cooperation with our constituent in the occupied Arab territories enjoys the widespread support of all regions and groups in the Governing Body. The ILO has always held that security was never only a military matter. The ILO Constitution's statements that "poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere" and that "lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice" are extremely relevant in today's Middle East. Human security is in deficit on both the Israel and Palestinian sides of the unresolved conflict. The Government of Israel emphasizes physical security for its citizens. The Palestinian Authority stresses the economic and social insecurity as well as the physical, social and economic - in Israel on the one hand cannot be separated from security for the Palestinian people living in the occupied territories on the other. (1) United Nations: In larger freedom: Towards development, security and human rights for all, Report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for decision by Heads of State and Government, General Assembly, 59th Session, document A/59/2005, para.17.