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The report said the Palestinians' freedom of movement within the West Bank is the exception not the norm. |
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli restrictions are dividing the occupied West Bank into economically isolated enclaves, preventing the already sluggish economy from growing and denying Palestinians access to half of the Palestinian lands, the World Bank said on Wednesday, May 9.
"The policy of closure... has resulted in a highly fragmented Palestinian economy," the bank said in a report cited by Agence France Presse (AFP).
It added that Israel has severely limited the movement of people and goods within the occupied West Bank and severed economic and social interaction between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"Currently, freedom of movement and access for Palestinians within the West Bank is the exception rather than the norm, contrary to the commitments undertaken in a number of agreements between the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority."
Israel has regularly closed crossings in the occupied Palestinians territories, citing security concerns.
"In economic terms, the restrictions arising from closure not only increase transaction costs, but create such a high level of uncertainty and inefficiency that the normal conduct of business becomes exceedingly difficult and stymies the growth and investment," said the World Bank.
Israel had agreed to allow Palestinian bus and truck convoys travel between the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank under a November 2005 agreement brokered by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice but changed hearts after Hamas was voted to power in March of last year.
Haartez has said that Israel closes the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only window to the world, to lay pressures on Palestinians.
Enclaves
The World Bank said Israeli restrictions divided the occupied West Bank into 10 economically-isolated enclaves.
It said Israeli closures "fragmented the territory into ever smaller and more disconnected cantons... severed Palestinian economic, social and physical links to Jerusalem and denied Palestinians access to some 50 percent of West Bank land for economic development."
The report added that the number of physical barriers, including checkpoints, roadblocks and gates, in the West Bank has been on the rise.
As of March, the number of Israeli barriers reached 546, by a 44% of their numbers in November 2005, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories (OCHA).
David Craig, the World Bank country director for the Palestinian territories, said removal of the Israeli restrictions was key to restoring Palestinian economic growth.
"Palestinian economic revival is predicated on an integrated economic entity with freedom of movement between the West Bank and Gaza and within the West Bank."
Craig said the recovery of the economy depends on "unfettered Palestinian access to West Bank land for economic purposes, and reliable access to world markets."
He insisted that the Israeli restriction system has "significantly undermined these conditions. Restoring sustainable Palestinian economic growth is dependent on its dismantling."
The Palestinian territories have been hard hit economically by a year-old US-led Western aid freeze since Hamas came to power, greatly affecting the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Free Reign
While restricting the Palestinian movement, Israel has given free reign to Jewish settlement activities in the in the occupied lands, said the World Bank.
"The resulting system, while enhancing Israeli security, is also aimed at protecting and enhancing the free movement of settlers and the physical and economic expansion of the settlements at the expense of the Palestinian population," it added.
"…it is often difficult to reconcile the use of closure for security purposes from its use to expand and protect settlement activity and the relatively unhindered movement of settlers in and out of the West Bank," the report said.
"It is also difficult to account for the discriminatory enforcement of zoning and planning regulations which minimize the amount of land available for the normal growth and development of Palestinian areas... while allowing for expanded construction of settlements and their supporting infrastructure."
There are 270,000 Israeli settlers who live in the occupied West Bank among some 2.5 million Palestinians.
The World Court has ruled that settlements built on land captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War are illegal.
The World Bank said the "separation barrier, the system of restricted West Bank roads, the control of the Palestinian population registry and restrictive zoning and land use rules and practices are aimed primarily at serving the settler population."
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