World Bank Criticises Israel Over Palestinian Economy

The World Bank today called on Israel to ease its extensive restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to fuel a Palestinian economic revival.

In a harsh report (pdf), the bank criticised Israel for extending legitimate security measures to expand and protect settlement activity and the relatively unhindered movement of settlers and other Israelis in and out of the West Bank.

The US has been pushing Israel to relax some of the restrictions to allow the hard-pressed Palestinian economy scope for recovery, and the World Bank's 18-page report - a comprehensive assessment of the restrictions - reinforced that message.

It said that while Israel had shown a willingness to relax specific restrictions, incremental steps lacked permanence and certainty and could be easily withdrawn or replaced by other restrictions.

"Moreover, sustainable economic recovery will remain elusive if large areas of the West Bank remain inaccessible for economic purposes and restricted movement remains the norm for the vast majority of Palestinians and expatriate Palestinian investors," the report added.

Israel claimed its system of restrictions was necessary to counter terrorism. "We have no interest whatsoever in seeing a failed Palestinian economy," the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, told the Associated Press.

"Many of the current problems are a direct result of terrorism, violence and political instability inside the Palestinian territories ... and the overall anarchy that exists."

Many restrictions were imposed or tightened during the second Palestinian uprising, which began in 2000 and was accompanied by suicide bombings and shootings.

In 2002, Israel began building the separation barrier it claims is meant to keep out attackers, but which the World Bank says has had a negative impact on the Palestinian economy.

Israel has declared the area between the barrier and the pre-1967 borders - the green line - a "closed area" for an indefinite period. This so-called "seam zone" accounts roughly for 8.5% of West Bank territory, encompassing roughly 50,000 Palestinians in 38 towns and villages.

A recent study cited by the World Bank, funded by the New Israel Fund and the British embassy in Tel Aviv, found that the current route of the barrier "almost totally ignores the daily needs of the Palestinian population".

It said the barrier was "focused almost exclusively on the desire to maintain the fabric of life of Israeli settlers".

According to the report, more than 50% of the West Bank is restricted for Palestinians, including land around 133 Jewish settlements and some 100 "illegal outposts".

The report said there were around 250,000 settlers in the West Bank, roughly twice the 129,000 who lived in the area at the time of the 1993 Oslo accords.

Some 450 miles of major West Bank roads are for settlers or non-Palestinians only, forcing Palestinian motorists to use long detours.

Apart from physical restrictions, Israel runs the population registry in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, determining who receives ID cards - and thus residency rights - after the age of 16, the bank said.

The registry is linked to a permit system that can be used to control the movement of Palestinians outside their immediate municipal area and restrict access to large parts of the West Bank.

The report said economic recovery and sustainable growth would "require a fundamental reassessment of closure practices, a restoration of the presumption of movement, and review of Israeli control of the population registry and other means of dictating the residency of Palestinians within the West Bank and Gaza".