Tuesday, December 23, 2003[UPDATE ON RACISM] Stay away from
Israeli women, foreign workers told FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS JERUSALEM - An Israeli company
has required thousands of Chinese workers to sign a
contract promising not to have sex with Israelis or
try to convert them, a police spokesperson said
today. According to the document, male workers cannot
come into contact with Israeli women - including
prostitutes - become their lovers or marry them,
spokesperson Rafi Yaffe said. He said there
was nothing illegal about the requirement and no
investigation had been opened against the
company. The labourers are also
forbidden in the contract from engaging in any
religious or political activity. Those who
violate the agreement will be sent back to China
at their own expense. About 260,000 foreigners work in Israel, having
replaced Palestinian labourers during three years
of fighting. When the government first began to
allow the entrance of the foreign workers in the
late 1990s, ministers warned of a "social time
bomb" caused by workers assimilating with
Israelis. More than half the workers are in the country
illegally. Israeli police have increased efforts to
deport those working without permits in light of
high Israeli unemployment, which has reached 11 per
cent in recent months. Israeli advocates of foreign workers - who come
also from Thailand, the Philippines and Romania -
say they are held by employers in nearly slave-like
conditions and their bosses frequently take their
passports and refuse to pay them. A spokesperson for the Labour and Social Affairs
Ministry did not return calls requesting
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