Desperate for work in Israel, Gazans think things will soon get worse

EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip -- Hassan Dada's commute is a lot longer than his work day, and things may soon get much worse.

The 48-year-old construction worker leaves his house in Gaza at 10 p.m., overnights at the border waiting to be let into Israel, hurries back home in the afternoon because Gaza Palestinians have to be out of Israel by nightfall, and, after a couple of hours' sleep, starts the whole process over again.

Now his $30-a-day job may be in jeopardy because Israeli authorities are thinking of closing the border permanently in response to the election victory of Hamas, an organization that rejects Israel's right to exist.

Thousands of workers like Dada are caught in the three-way vise of a corrupt outgoing Fatah government, the Hamas militants who were elected to clean things up, and Israeli military authorities who say that if Hamas is what the Palestinians want, a border closure is what they should get.

If Hamas sticks to its nonrecognition of Israel after it takes office in the coming weeks, "we will have to close the gates and no one can pass," said Shlomo Dror, an Israeli military spokesman on Palestinian affairs.

Dada, a father of 11, prays it won't happen. There are few jobs in Gaza, and they pay far less than in Israel. There are some 5,500 workers like Dada, and thousands more would sign up for the grueling commute if Israel were to issue more work permits, underscoring the Palestinian economy's absolute dependency on Israel.

Israel captured the Gaza Strip in the 1967 war. It withdrew its troops and settlers last summer, effectively separating itself from the territory but leaving the Erez border checkpoint open. Closing it would plunge the Gaza Strip and its 1.4 million people even deeper into poverty.

"Maybe it is time for the Palestinians to build their own economic life without leaning on Israel," Dror said.

The workers huddling in the cold and dark at Erez can't wait that long.

Erez is one of the few places in Gaza where Palestinians are in close proximity with Israelis, and even before the election, it was repeatedly targeted by suicide bombers and gunmen.

Workers crossing the border used to have to approach Israeli soldiers with their pants rolled up and their shirts over their heads to show they were unarmed. Now they pass through a body scanner and don't see Israelis. Their instructions come over a loudspeaker.

Once across the border, the workers pass an Israeli banner saying in Arabic: "Who will protect your livelihoods when the crossing is closed -- Fatah? Hamas? or Israel?"

The Israeli army said it put up the banner after the last attack, on Feb. 9, as part of efforts to explain to Gazans why it orders border closures.

Since bombers tend to be young, workers have to be over 35 to work in Israel. Mohammed Tamboura had just qualified and was waiting to cross. He doubted things would be any better under Hamas' leadership.

"It is a lost case," he said. "When the crossing is closed, we will eat sand."