To Work and Back: Exploring Palestinian Labour Mobility and its Development Effects on the West Bank

四分之一的人口生活在脆弱和受冲突影响的国家，有保障的劳动力流动对于增强受影响人口的复原力至关重要：可持续的安全、司法和就业水平有助于“打破不安全的循环，降低其再次发生的风险”（世界银行，2011年）。本项目考察了在不平等、隔离和冲突的背景下，劳动力流动对巴勒斯坦西岸社会经济发展和复原力的贡献。重点是巴勒斯坦劳工，他们每天进入以色列的工作场所，往往是艰苦的通勤。在这方面产生关于劳动力移徙的各种影响的经验证据，将阐明加强劳动力流动的积极影响的政府和非政府干预的新机会。近年来，以色列的巴勒斯坦工人数量稳步上升，目前约有92,000名巴勒斯坦人在以色列工作，另有36,000名巴勒斯坦人在西岸的犹太人定居点工作（BOI 2015），因此这项研究尤为重要。巴勒斯坦劳动通勤者在塑造经济增长模式和确保就业和收入方面发挥了关键作用，但他们的流动性也增加了对以色列的依赖，并破坏了国内的可持续增长（Farsakh 2005; Hanieh 2006）。由于以色列对“廉价劳动力”的需求不断增加，而在国内缺乏机会，西岸的巴勒斯坦人越来越面临着继续流动的义务。更好地理解劳动力流动的赋权和赋权维度是如何相互交织的，对于在棘手的冲突和持续的军事占领下建立社会和经济弹性至关重要。“经济弹性”是指通过加强经济吸收“冲击”和实现增长的能力，降低经济对危机或灾害的脆弱性（Röhn 2015; Hallegatte 2014）。然而，在西岸的背景下，这些“冲击”在系统性经济“去发展”（Roy 1999）、间歇性关闭和法律隔离（Weizman 2012; Yiftachel 2001）以及巴勒斯坦周边地区对以色列核心地区的经济依赖（Portugali 1993; Roy 2004）的关系中已经制度化。这就产生了一个问题，即社会和经济弹性，作为占领下“得过且过”的一种形式（Allen 2008），如何以包容和可持续的方式得到加强，而不会进一步加深依赖。尽管以色列的工资相对较高，但由于合法剥削、普遍的疲劳和不合理的通勤，对巴勒斯坦人家园的积极溢出效应仍然受到严重限制。在这些概念基础上，拟议的工作方案有五个支柱：a)研究和分析：根据两年关于巴勒斯坦人在以色列工作场所就业的博士研究和将在西岸进行的为期六周的进一步研究，就如何通过具体的政策干预来减轻劳动力流动的不利影响产生新的见解。b)知识交流和影响：通过与用户的战略伙伴关系、有针对性的学术合作以及高质量证据的出版和传播，最大限度地提高研究成果的学术和非学术影响。c)可持续伙伴关系：与国际劳工组织建立战略和可持续伙伴关系，为联合国的劳工移徙政策提供信息，同时发展有效用户参与的重要技能。d)学术合作：与重点研究人员和项目合作，以在奖学金期间实现最高质量的出版产出，并建立可持续的国际网络。e)技能发展：在职业发展研讨会、课程和结构良好的指导的帮助下，发展在奖学金结束后获得职位所需的技能。

One in four people live in fragile and conflict affected states and the role of secure labour mobility is essential to enhance resilience of affected populations: a sustainable level of security, justice and jobs helps to 'break cycles of insecurity and reduce the risk of their recurrence' (World Bank 2011). This project examines the contribution of labour mobility to socio-economic development and resilience in the Palestinian West Bank against the backdrop of inequality, segregation and conflict. The focus is on Palestinian labourers who move into Israeli workspaces in daily and often strenuous commutes. Generating empirical evidence on the diverse effects of labour migration in this context will illuminate new opportunities for governmental and non-governmental interventions that strengthen the positive impact of labour mobility. This research is particularly important at a time when numbers of Palestinian workers in Israel have risen steadily for several years with some 92,000 Palestinians currently working in Israel and another 36,000 in Jewish settlements in the West Bank (BOI 2015).Palestinian labour commuters have played a key role in shaping economic growth patterns and in securing jobs and income, but their mobility also increased dependence on Israel and undermined sustainable growth at home (Farsakh 2005; Hanieh 2006). Palestinians in the West Bank increasingly face an obligation to keep on circulating due to increasing demand for 'cheap labour' in Israel and lacking opportunities at home. A better understanding of how the empowering and disempowering dimensions of labour mobility intersect is essential for the building of social and economic resilience despite an intractable conflict and ongoing military occupation.'Economic resilience' is meant to decrease the vulnerability of economies to crises or disasters by strengthening their capacity to absorb 'shocks' and achieve growth (Röhn 2015; Hallegatte 2014). However, in the context of the West Bank these 'shocks' have been institutionalised in relations of systematic economic 'de-development' (Roy 1999), intermittent closures and legal segregation (Weizman 2012; Yiftachel 2001), as well as economic dependency of the Palestinian periphery on the Israeli core (Portugali 1993; Roy 2004). This has consequences for questions about how social and economic resilience, as one form of 'getting-by' under occupation (Allen 2008), can be strengthened in inclusive and sustainable ways without further deepening dependency. Despite the benefits of comparably higher wages in Israel the positive spill-over effects into Palestinians' home areas remain severely limited by legal exploitation, widespread fatigue and unreasonable commutes. Building on these conceptual underpinnings, the proposed work-programme has five pillars:a) Research and analysis: generate new insights about how the disempowering effects of labour mobility can be alleviated with concrete policy-interventions, based on two years of PhD research on Palestinian employment in Israeli workspaces and on additional research to be conducted for six weeks in the West Bank.b) Knowledge exchange and impact: maximize the academic and non-academic impact of the research outputs through strategic partnerships with users, targeted academic collaboration and the publication and dissemination of high-quality evidence.c) Sustainable partnerships: engage in a strategic and sustainable partnership with the ILO to inform UN policies on labour migration while developing important skills in effective user engagement.d) Academic collaboration: collaborate with key-researchers and projects in order to achieve the highest possible quality of publication outputs during the fellowship and to establish a sustainable international network.e) Skills development: develop the skills necessary for securing a position after the Fellowship with the help of career development workshops, courses and well-structured mentoring.