The Palestinian Workers Union in the Gaza Strip denounced the continuous Israeli violations practiced against the Palestinian workers while trying to cross the military checkpoints that are installed on the entrances of the Palestinian areas, and the crossings separating the Palestinian territories form Israel.
Rasem Al Bayari, the head of the Union, said that the workers are facing a policy which resembles "slow death".
"They are subjected to different sorts of abuse and humiliation while trying to cross the military checkpoints", Al Bayari reported, "They are forced to sit on their knees, and forced to undress regardless of the cold weather"
Dozens of workers filed complaints to the public relations department of the Union stating that soldiers at Beit Hanoun (Eretz) crossing, between the Gaza Strip and Israel, are forcing them to be present at the checkpoint during night hours, and that they are kept waiting their until the morning.
The workers said in their complaints that they are forced to walk through narrow tunnels before they reach the inspection point. Several workers felt dizzy, while others fainted, while walking through the narrow tunnels.
Also, Al Bayari said that soldiers remotely control the main gate; they close and open it depending on their mood while the workers have to wait under the rain until they are allowed to enter the inspection rooms.
In many cases, workers were injured as the soldiers closed the electronic gate without paying attention if anyone was stuck their.
One of the workers said that soldiers are forcing them to enter an X-Ray search room before they are searched by metal detection machines.
After waiting for long, and having to be searched by X-Ray and other means, the entry and work permits have to be checked again by soldiers standing near the main gate before the workers can head to the busses which transport them to their work.
Another worker said that he heads to the Eretz crossing at 11 in the night in order to be able to leave the checkpoint and head to his work at 5 in the morning.
Some of the workers only return home on Friday after spending the week at work, sleeping in cold unfinished construction sites, in order to avoid the daily harsh procedures they have to face.
Al Bayari added that these Israeli procedures violate the international law, and violate the rights of the workers.
He said that the X-Ray search room endangers the wellbeing of the workers, adding that this room accumulates to the dangers and hardships the workers have to go throw on daily basis.
Al Bayari slammed the arrests carried against the workers and considered these arrests as illegal practices conducted by the occupation against workers who are trying to work in order to feed their families.
Recently, Israeli soldiers arrested 160 Palestinian workers, and filed charges against them after claming that they entered Israel without obtaining the entry permits.
"These arrests are illegal, they are carried against workers who want to work in order to support their families", Al Bayari said, "Israel destroyed most of the workshops, industrial and agricultural areas in the Palestinian territories".
