Ihab Maharmeh is a researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and a PhD candidate at the School of Law, Politics and Sociology at the University of Sussex. He is a member of the editorial boards of Siyasat Arabiya and Hikama. He holds an MA in International Studies from Birzeit University’s Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute, a BA in Public Administration from the same institution, and an MA in Public Policy and International Cooperation from the Doha Institute. His research focuses on settler colonialism, forced displacement, Palestinian labor in the settler economy, and artificial intelligence.
From this author
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, Palestinian laborers working in the Israeli market have become a top target for Israel's brutal Civil and Economic Affairs Cabinet and the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. During this time, the Zionist regime terminated over 140,000 work permits, detained thousands of Palestinian workers, and began formal discussions with various Asian governments to recruit foreign laborers as replacements.
In this policy brief, Ihab Maharmeh details a recurring pattern in which Israel summons, exploits, expels, or replaces the Palestinian workforce based on its needs. This calculated approach, Maharmeh argues, is designed to systematically dismantle Palestinian political, economic, and social structures, ultimately advancing the goal of Palestinian erasure.
In this policy lab, Ihab Maharmeh and Ahmed Abu Ziad join us with facilitator Fathi Nimer to discuss the past, present, and future of the student movement in Palestine.
The Israeli regime has been systematically violating the rights of Palestinian workers in Israel and its illegal settlements since 1967. How have these violations been exacerbated since the COVID-19 pandemic? Al-Shabaka’s guest contributor, Ihab Maharmeh, examines Israel’s ongoing abuses of Palestinian workers’ labor and human rights. He offers recommendations for securing these rights and for holding Israel accountable.
