
General Yehuda Fox, commander of the IDF Central Command, decided that the Arab workers would not be permitted to enter Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria. Arab workers will still be permitted to enter industrial areas, but only at night.
"According to the decision of the commanding General, as of now, there is no entry into Israeli towns for Arab workers. They will be permitted to enter industrial areas at night only," commented the Binyamin Regional Council in response to Arutz Sheva - Israel National News's inquiry.
An IDF spokesperson stated, "In view of the requests forwarded to the Central Command for the introduction of Arab workers to factories operating in industrial areas outside the Israeli towns, stringent and strict security arrangements have been established, only subject to which the workers will be able to be brought into the place."
The orders include Arabs with Israeli citizenship. The new policies were issued after a wave of protests among Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria against allowing Arab workers into Israeli towns and multiple calls on social media for residents to prevent Arab workers from entering their towns by force.
Similar calls on social media have referred to the annual olive harvests, urging Israeli activists to remove Arab olive harvesters from orchards near their town by force. Other calls encouraged the destruction of the olive trees, the application of noxious substances to the olives to make them unusable, or for Israelis living nearby to seize the olive crop for themselves before Arab harvesters could reach the area.