Arab workers at SodaStream plant
Arab workers at SodaStream plantFlash 90

Palestinian Arabs' labor conditions are far better in Israel and in Israeli-owned areas of Judea-Samaria than in the Palestinian Authority (PA) itself, according to an European Union (EU)-funded study released Thursday and published by Palestinian Media Watch

In Israel, the average daily wage for Palestinians was 194.2 shekels ($49) during the period surveyed, while Palestinians working in the PA only earned 91.4 ($23) shekels daily, according to the survey conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) during October-December 2014

The average wage for Palestinians working for Israelis was triple that of those employed in Hamas-ruled Gaza, who made only 66.1 shekels ($16.70) daily.

In September, the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida praised the higher wages and better conditions at Israeli workplaces. 

"Whenever Palestinian workers have the opportunity to work for Israeli employers, they are quick to quit their jobs with their Palestinian employers - for reasons having to do with salaries and other rights," it said at the time. 

"The [Israeli] work conditions are very good, and include transportation, medical insurance and pensions. These things do not exist with Palestinian employers."

One prominent and recent example of this was Israeli company SodaStream's factory in Mishor Adumim - now closed - which was  a "model of integration" employing 500 Palestinians, 450 Arab Israelis and 350 Israeli Jews on the same salaries and with the same social security benefits.

Palestinian employees "receive salaries four or five times that of the average wage in the territories controlled by Palestinian authorities", it has said.