Palestinian workers find temporary Israeli abodes in coronavirus crisis

Israeli and Palestinian labourers work at a construction site, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Tel Aviv, Israel March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Rami Ayyub

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel's building industry has found temporary housing for many of its nearly 70,000 Palestinian labourers, staving off a construction shutdown after the coronavirus crisis prompted the closure of the border with the occupied West Bank.

The successful scramble over the course of three days to keep a vital workforce on the job was a rare instance of common Israeli and Palestinian concerns leading to cooperation on a large scale.