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After its war in Gaza, Israel cut off much of its economic ties with the West Bank, a Palestinian territory that Israel occupies. More than two years on, the West Bank is in an economic depression. NPR's Emily Feng reports.
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EMILY FENG, BYLINE: Khaled Hammad, the owner of this store just outside Ramallah in the West Bank, tallies up his daily sales and debts.
KHALED HAMMAD: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "It's bad - very bad," he sighs. Six months ago, he had to put this sign up behind him.
HAMMAD: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: NPR producer Nuha Musleh translates.
NUHA MUSLEH, BYLINE: "Please do not embarrass me. Credit is not allowed."
FENG: Because Hammad himself has also run out of money. Just then, Ali Zeyta, a regular customer here, comes in and buys a single cigarette.
ALI ZEYTA: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: He can't afford a whole pack.
ZEYTA: (Non-English language spoken).
FENG: He says he makes at most the equivalent of $50 U.S. a day in the West Bank - a third of what he used to make in Israel. Most of the men in this village once worked in Israel. They were among more than 100,000 Palestinians in the West Bank who Israel gave permits to, to cross a long separation wall and work on the other side in Israel where the pay was higher. But since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza, Israel has frozen most worker permits for Palestinians, and about a fifth of the West Bank's economy just vanished.
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FENG: But some Palestinian workers are still sneaking to that separation wall.
And I'm walking along this concrete wall right now, and this is where the Palestinian workers have been trying to cross - risking arrest, even being shot.
Because they want work in Israel. This past December, a man from the West Bank working without a permit in Israel killed two people there, stoking more public fear and anger among the Israeli public.
AVIA LIBERMAN: It is ironic because this policy started because they believed that economic integration - it was seen as a tool to reduce tension and support stability.
FENG: This is Avia Liberman, an Israeli economic analyst who's written in support of reinstating worker permits.
LIBERMAN: The army and the ministry of defense, in contrast to today, were actually supporting bringing Palestinian workers to Israel.
FENG: Adding to the West Bank's economic woes, since 2019, Israel, which controls all border crossings into the territory, has also withheld more than $2 1/2 billion in customs duties and taxes all owed to the Palestinian Authority - or PA - which governs much of the West Bank.
ZAYNE ABUDAKA: We can't do trade 'cause we don't control our borders and our laborers all work for Israel.
FENG: This is Zayne Abudaka, who runs an economic consultancy in the West Bank.
ABUDAKA: The investment - no one wants to invest in this war-torn economy.
FENG: So now, unemployment is high.
ABUDAKA: The official estimate is 28% now.
FENG: And last year, its economy shrank by nearly a fourth. Abudaka says the Palestinian economy desperately needs access to work inside Israel. But in the long term, that keeps Palestinians stuck doing low-paying work.
ABUDAKA: Us being stuck in the middle is the name of the game. If we are much poorer, we would rebel. We would do something. If we were much richer, we would also have better dreams, and we will aim for higher.
FENG: The current economic devastation has cascaded down to every level of the Palestinian economy.
IBRAHIM EL AJRAB: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: Ibrahim El Ajrab builds apartments in the West Bank, but since workers stopped going to Israel, no one has money to buy them. And as kids, they go to school at most three times a week. The Palestinian Authority has run out of money and hasn't been able to pay public school teachers. And then there's the checkpoints.
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FENG: Farmers like I'tidal Rawagh have been stymied from selling their goods to Israel because of stricter checkpoints built since the war. She stands among verdant rows of green beans, the vines spiraling over our heads. Nearby are plots for cucumbers.
I’TIDAL RAWAGH: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: During the last harvest, the Israeli army suddenly closed the main checkpoint into Jericho, where she is. Boxes of her ripe cucumbers sat rotting in the sun. She is now thousands of dollars in debt.
RAWAGH: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "God help me," she says. If these economic conditions continue, Rashad Yousef, a deputy economic minister in the PA, warns...
RASHAD YOUSEF: (Speaking Arabic).
FENG: "We might reach a situation where there is a complete collapse of the Palestinian Authority's institutions," he says.
Emily Feng, NPR News, Jericho, the West Bank. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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