Israel's housing ministry has prepared a contingency plan for a unilateral separation from the Palestinian Authority, Housing Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer was quoted by Haaretz newspaper as saying in a speech Tuesday.
Ben-Eliezer noted that some Jewish settlements share a common sewage system with neighboring Palestinian areas.
"One possible solution in this case would be to provide compact sewage treatment facilities for such Jewish communities," the minister suggested.
The minister said that an alternative must be found for the 63,000 Palestinians from the territories who normally work at Israeli construction sites.
"Due to recent terrorist attacks and the closure of the territories, a smaller number of Palestinian workers are presently employed."
Only 22,000 Palestinian residents of the territories have valid permits to work in Israel, said Haaretz.
Israeli workers cannot be expected to fill the shortage of construction workers, so additional foreign workers must be brought to Israel, Ben-Eliezer said.
Haaretz said that the government approved the importation of 7,000 foreign workers for the construction industry this week, and enlarged the overall quota of foreign workers from 50,000 to 59,000 -- Albawaba.com
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