Forward Forum

Occupation, Not 'Culture,' Holds Back Palestinians

No Way To Thrive in Land of Checkpoints and Oppression

By Sari Bashi

(Page 2 of 2)

Beginning in 1967, Israel pursued a policy of economic integration, encouraging Palestinian workers to enter Israel for relatively higher paying jobs, which in turn created a Palestinian consumer market for Israeli goods. In 1987, Palestinian workers held one in every 10 jobs in Israel, raising wages and cost of living in the Palestinian territory. In the 1990s, as violence escalated, the policy of economic integration was replaced by a policy of separation, wreaking havoc on an economy developed to be dependent on access to Israel. Travel restrictions meant that the number of workers permitted into Israel plunged from 109,000 in 1987 to 24,000 in 2008. Gaza, especially, was also subject to restrictions on goods, which, in the wake of the 2007 internal takeover of Gaza by the Hamas movement, culminated in a policy that Israel called “economic warfare,” designed to halt production and paralyze the economy by restricting movement to a trickle of humanitarian items.

The policy was effective. In 2009, Gaza’s GDP declined to $787 per capita, compared with $1,327 in 1994. The West Bank, subject to fewer restrictions, has fared slightly better, recently climbing back up to its 1999 level. But Israeli policies are still inhibiting growth, including restrictions on the entrance of investors into the West Bank and transit of goods within the West Bank and into Israel, Gaza and Jordan; a general ban on travel between Gaza and the West Bank, and a ban on selling goods from Gaza to their traditional markets in Israel and the West Bank.

I recall our organization’s attempt last February to help 12 outstanding young women and men from Gaza reach a competition in the West Bank, sponsored by Microsoft, to recruit technology students. Although Israel raised no security claim against the students, it refused to allow passage, saying that access would be restricted to “exceptional humanitarian circumstances.” So the students missed an opportunity to develop promising high-tech careers, even as the unemployment rate among those ages 20 to 24 in Gaza stands at 58%.

Throughout August we have been sending faxes and emails to Israeli military officials, begging them to reverse their refusal to allow farmers in Gaza to sell their strawberries to lucrative markets in the West Bank. Without the ability to access those customers, hundreds of strawberry farm workers will remain idle and stay dependent on humanitarian assistance.

These kinds of restrictions have nothing to do with culture. And they can be removed without endangering Israeli security. Already, Israel is allowing goods from Gaza to enter Israel, en route to limited export markets abroad, after undergoing comprehensive security checks. Those same goods could be sold in Israel and the West Bank, where demand and profitability are higher. Already, the military is allowing nearly 200 Palestinians to leave Gaza every day, subject to individual security screening. Those numbers could be expanded to include students, businesswomen and others trying to access economic and educational opportunities in the West Bank.

Just think of the future that would be possible for Palestinians and Israelis if the potential for economic growth in Gaza and the West Bank were allowed to flourish, as it has in Israel. I can already see the elderly man in Gaza pointing at a computer screen and telling his niece: “You see that new version of Microsoft Word? The developer is a woman from Gaza City.”

Sari Bashi is the executive director of Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization protecting the right to freedom of movement in the occupied Palestinian territory.