{"id":495066,"date":"2026-06-16T06:11:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T06:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/495066\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T06:11:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T06:11:23","slug":"west-bank-economy-on-the-brink-as-israeli-restrictions-tighten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/495066\/","title":{"rendered":"West Bank economy on the brink as Israeli restrictions tighten"},"content":{"rendered":"

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) \u2014 The economy in the West Bank<\/a> is teetering toward collapse as Israel<\/a> maintains a web of restrictions that limit opportunities for Palestinians living under long-term military occupation, according to a new report from a leading conflict tracker.<\/p>\n

The International Crisis Group says that Israeli measures restricting movement, withholding revenue and taking land are not only crippling the Palestinian economy but also fueling deep instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe economic conditions necessary for any Palestinian future other than permanent subjugation are being dismantled,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

The report, based on interviews with Palestinian business leaders, mayors and government officials, details the financial crisis afflicting companies, households and the internationally backed Palestinian Authority<\/a>, which administers cities and towns in the West Bank.<\/p>\n

It says Israeli policies suggest a concerted effort to \u201cadvance Israel\u2019s own declared goal of extending its control and preventing a Palestinian state from emerging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout decades of military occupation, the Palestinian economy<\/a> has been hobbled by checkpoints and military gates<\/a> that curtail movement of people and goods. Households and businesses have relied heavily on jobs and imports tied to Israel, and faced restrictions on land and trade. The roughly 3.4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank today face roughly 30% unemployment and have seen their economy contract substantially since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.<\/p>\n

After Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attack, Israel revoked work permits for most of the nearly 200,000 Palestinians who had worked there previously. Officials cited security but in effect, it deprived the Palestinian economy of nearly $400 million a month, or almost one-fourth of its overall economic output.<\/p>\n

Many businesses today are struggling to pay workers, contractors and suppliers, with private companies seeing an estimated 50% decline in business since before the war, \u201creflecting tightened movement controls, disrupted supply chains and heightened uncertainty,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalestinian society survives, but in a state of grinding immiseration. Absent remedies, the result will likely be a loss of hope and a growing risk of instability and greater violence,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n

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As the occupied West Bank\u2019s largest employer and service provider, Palestinian Authority is at the heart of the crisis<\/a>. Government agencies have borrowed heavily to stay afloat as public sector workers go unpaid and infrastructure like roads and water lines crumble. The inability to fund to public services is keeping patients out of hospitals and kids out of school.<\/p>\n

Most of the PA\u2019s money comes from taxes collected on goods entering the West Bank through Israeli ports, because Palestinians do not control their own borders. But under hard-line ministers in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government, Israel has withheld billions of dollars in owed tax revenue and unilaterally imposed deductions on the funds. No transfers have been made since May 2025.<\/p>\n

Joost Hiltermann, International Crisis Group\u2019s special adviser for the Middle East and North Africa, said the world\u2019s focus on more than two years of war in Gaza had drawn attention away from the West Bank, but that changes taking place now could have arguably wider consequences for Palestinians\u2019 future aspirations.<\/p>\n

Hiltermann, who wrote the report, said Israeli officials, who exert considerable control over many of the policies in question, did not agree to be interviewed. But he noted disagreements within Netanyahu\u2019s government, with settler leaders and security officials often clashing on how to manage the Palestinian economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe security establishment doesn\u2019t want the Palestinian Authority or economy to collapse because they would have to assume the burden of governing the territory in full after essentially destroying it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) \u2014 The economy in the West Bank is teetering toward collapse as Israel maintains…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[120,159991,49,114,182757,184,122,51,85,46,1984,61,228082,2034,3896,2032,77,126],"class_list":["post-495066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-business","tag-contracts-and-orders","tag-economy","tag-general-news","tag-hamas","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-israel-government","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-joost-hiltermann","tag-mideast-wars","tag-military-and-defense","tag-palestinian-territories-government","tag-west-bank","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}