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Trade revives as Palestinian cities reconnect
Thu Aug 27, 2009 10:24am EDT
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By Douglas Hamilton
RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Businesses in normal countries take getting around for granted. They can distribute, export and attract workers and customers from wide areas.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, access to more than half of the land is restricted. Israel has ultimate control of roads, energy, water, telecommunications and air space.
The violent Palestinian intifada (uprising) of 2000 triggered an Israeli security crackdown, creating checkpoints on key routes, closing roads and putting 600 obstacles around Israel's West Bank settlements.
A journey of 30 minutes could stretch into hours.
An Israeli barrier of fence and concrete wall now seals off much of the West Bank. At a handful of crossing points, freight heading for the Jewish state is screened for security.
A decade of what the Palestinians call "closure" created higher transaction costs, uncertainty and inefficiency.
But violence has fallen significantly. The Palestinians have established an effective security force, with American help.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that in addition to the classic, top-down peace process, he can build peace from the bottom up by boosting the Palestinian economy.
This summer he began removing major internal checkpoints.
Wary Palestinian businessmen say these can easily be re-established, so their operating environment remains fraught with unpredictability. But with easier movement, trade is indeed on the rise in places, and as a result there are more jobs.
Reuters reporters took the pulse in five West Bank cities:
NABLUS, from Atef Saad
This northern city was the West Bank's commercial hub until the Palestinian uprising that began in 2000 when it was virtually sealed off by the Huwara checkpoint, known for years as one of the toughest in the occupied territory.
In the past five years 425 companies left for Ramallah to escape the economic siege, according to Omar Hashem of the Nablus Chamber of Commerce. But 100 returned this year, he said.
"In the past four months, there has been considerable improvement in Nablus' trade situation, after Israeli authorities eased restrictions at military checkpoints." Continued...
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