While Palestinian Authority (PA) officials are calling for Israel to freeze settlement construction in Judea and Samaria, many PA Arabs disagree, saying that a freeze would severely damage their livelihood. More than 12,000 PA Arabs are estimated to be employed as workers constructing homes in the settlements.

“We come here [to the settlements] because our Palestinian and Arab governments haven't done anything to provide us with better jobs,” one PA construction worker told JPost.  According to the report, PA Arabs employed by Israeli companies earn almost three times what they would earn working for PA companies.