first quarter of 2015. Of these, 58,700 had obtained a work permit, 39,300 worked without a permit and 12,300 had an Israeli identity card or a foreign passport.150 Palestinians with Work Permits in Israel and Israeli Colonies Protocols and procedures concerning Palestinian employment in Israel are so unclear and inconsistent that it is impossible for Palestinian workers to know what rules apply. When Gisha, an Israeli NGO, asked both the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories about the work permit quota in 2010, they not only received incomplete answers, but the answers they received also had a discrepancy of 12,000 workers.151 Furthermore, the responses given by these two Israeli state agencies concerning the criteria for construction workers also differed, stating different age requirements, for example.152 The result of these inconsistent and unclear requirements is that many Palestinian workers do not know – and are unable to find out – if they are able to obtain a work permit or not. Permit Procedures153 This formalized ambiguity is further compounded by the lack of available information from Palestinian officials. Ayman Odah, from the Palestinian Ministry of Labor informed BADIL that: “Obtaining work permits inside Israel is done through Israeli companies or Palestinian contractors who submit the list of workers who wish to work inside Israel to the Israeli Labor Office. Then, the Labor Office issues the permits in coordination with the relevant Israeli institutions. Our role is to receive the permits from our coordinators in the Civil Liaison Office and then distribute the permits to the workers. Workers apply for permits through the employer himself. We only ask for some needed documents such as a bank account, ID or a marriage certificate, which are all required by the Israeli Labor Office. We do not know more than that.” 150 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, “Press Release on the Results of the Labour Force Survey (January – March 2015) Round Main Results”, 19 May 2015. Available at: www.pcbs.gov.ps/site/512/ default.aspx?tabID=512&lang=en&ItemID=1397&mid=3172&wversion=Staging 151 Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, “Palestinian labor flows in Israel: Missed opportunities and possible ways forward”, May 2012, pages 1-2. Available at: gisha.org/userfiles/file/publications/ PalestinianWorkers-5.12/workers_eng.pdf 152 Ibid. Page 2 153 BADIL’s interview with Ayman Odah, Head of Operating Unit, Ministry of Labour, “Permit Procedures”, Ramallah, August 2015 44