Police reports indicated that Yassin and Abdel-Karim, were killed following a dispute over money, the details of which have not yet been disclosed. A senior official in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality, where there is a large population of Jordanian labourers, recently told the Jordan Times that many illegal labourers find themselves vulnerable to theft, extortion and poor working conditions, but do not seek police or other official assistance for fear of losing their jobs and being deported. The situation of Yassin and Abdel-Karim, is similar to that of an estimated 40,000 Jordanians believed to be working illegally in Israel. According to analysts, Jordan's high inflation and unemployment along with low salaries, have pushed many of the Hashemite Kingdom's citizens to seek work in Israel despite their antipathy for that state as well as the difficult living conditions there. The Jordanian government estimates that unemployment in the kingdom is 15 per cent of the workforce, while independent estimates claim that it may be as high as 27 per cent.
Statistics show that since the peace treaty the unemployment rate has increased.
Since the signing of the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty in 1994, no bilateral agreement on movement of labour has been signed. However, last month, Jordan and Israel signed an agreement on a pilot project under which 200 Jordanians would cross from Aqaba each day into neighboring Eilat to work, mainly in the service sector. If it is successful, Israeli officials have said, it could be expanded to other areas.