This article is based on a paper that is to appear in Erella Shadmi (editor), Hazon Isha: Nashim Borot Olamot Hadashim (The Vision of Woman: Women Create New Worlds), in Hebrew, 2008. JUST a few yards separate Jisr al-Zarqa from Caesarea.…
Tag: employment
It’s me speaking
Nir Nader interviews poet Yudit Shahar (Unless otherwise noted, translations are by Stephen Langfur.) YUDIT SHAHAR arrived at the Challenge office on a Friday morning. She had taken the bus, which got stuck in a huge traffic jam at the entrance to…
Conversation with Farm Worker Kamila Zeidan
THREE MONTHS AGO Kamila Zeidan (40) joined the labor force in Israel’s Arab sector, where only 18.6% of the women work outside the home. Kamila, from Kufr Manda in Galilee, has quickly advanced. She now heads an agricultural work team…
On National Service for Arabs
FOR DECADES ISRAEL has justified the unequal status of its Arab citizens, who now compose 19% of the population (1.4 million), by pointing out that they do not serve in the army. This claim is easily dispelled. Many Bedouin do…
Flexible, All Too Flexible
AS CHANGE SWEEPS through global job markets, a debate is underway about the effect on workers. Are they benefiting? Or is work becoming less secure, with lower wages and the loss of hard-won rights? At the heart of the debate…
Encounter at Hawara
1. Jalia Suleiman a-Shtayeh August 20, 2006 started out like any Sunday. For most people in the West Bank, Sunday is simply a work day, the first of the week. For Jalia Suleiman a-Shtayeh it is the hardest day. If…
Against the Revolving Door
ON JUNE 11, 2006, Israel’s Educational TV (a government channel) sent 30 of its workers a letter saying, “Your services will not be needed after July 15.” No reason was stated. The dismissed are officially freelancers who have been employed…
Go to Personnel, You’re Fired
YESTERDAY, June 11, at ten in the morning, the office telephone rang. I answered. Ayelet Giladi? Yes. Please go to Rina at Personnel. What for? I don’t know, just go. Within two minutes I had in my hand a letter…
Women Demonstrate for Jobs
ON International Women’s Day, March 8, 2006, people passing the new government office tower in Tel Aviv paused for a strange sight. A hundred women, Arab workers and Jewish activists, stood on the sidewalk with signs proclaiming: “Women want to…
Not in Anybody’s Pocket Any More!
What motivates a farm worker like me, after a hard day’s work in the sun, to go out and wage an election campaign that demands much time and energy? The answer is that the belief in what I’m doing causes…