SINJIL: The West Bank is no place for principles.
''Of course I don't like building houses for the settlers,'' said Haitham Asfour, a Palestinian construction worker. ''But what choices do I have?''
As the rumble of bulldozers in Jewish settlements across the West Bank this week signalled an end to Israel's 10-month construction freeze - bringing the nascent Middle East peace talks to the brink of collapse - not all Palestinians could afford to be outraged.
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Mr Asfour, 33, one of 25,000 Palestinians who depend on the settlers for a living, said his family comes first.
The father of four said he can earn $85 to $100 a day when he is working on the settlements, double what he gets building homes for Palestinians.
A believer in the long-term goal of Palestinian statehood, Mr Asfour sees no contradiction in building the homes that the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, has bitterly criticised as an obstacle to peace.
''As long as the settlers are willing to pay me, then I am willing to work. If, in a few years, the settlers are forced to leave this land, then OK, I find other work. Although this is a long way from now.''
This year Mr Abbas began a campaign to encourage Palestinians to boycott goods produced in the West Bank by Jewish settlers.
Backed by new laws stating that anyone who deals in goods produced in the settlements faces imprisonment for up to five years, the campaign has drawn wide support, even among people like Mr Asfour.
''I support Palestine whenever I can, but they cannot support me. I must support myself,'' he said.
In May the Palestinian Authority announced new steps to absorb 6000 Palestinians working in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but these are yet to include areas such as construction.
Far from feeling the disapproval of friends and family, Mr Asfour said people who know how he earns a living often ask if there are any jobs going.
''People here understand what I do. Even the Palestinian Authority understands this. I don't face any problems from people here.''
Mr Asfour said the construction freeze had not cost him much work as it applied only to new home approvals. Construction was allowed to continue on homes that had been begun before the freeze was announced.
And some settlers had ignored the freeze anyway. Mr Asfour said that in one settlement north-west of the West Bank city of Ramallah, work on between 50 and 60 new homes began after the moratorium came into effect.
''A lot of the work I do is for existing homes, such as maintenance or for a new bathroom or kitchen, so I have not suffered too much.''
Despite the obvious tensions between settlers and Palestinians across the West Bank that result in daily outbreaks of violence, Mr Asfour said the working relationship was routine.
''I work from 7am to 3pm, and I negotiate my own rate. I'm not earning the [$200] a day that Jewish construction workers are earning, but I'm generally treated well.
''Often I am aware that the settlers believe this is their land, and that I don't belong here, but this does not affect the working relationship.''
With his diary full only for the next week, Mr Asfour said he was hoping the end of the construction freeze would lead to a surge in new business.
He does not hold out much hope for the current round of peace talks.
''These talks were finished before they even began,'' he said. ''I don't think they ever had any chance of succeeding.''
More than ever, he said, the construction work he does in the settlements demonstrates how intertwined Jews and Palestinians have become.
''The longer we try to separate, the closer we move to each other in how we live our daily lives.''
