In the occupied West Bank, Hafeth Ghazawneh waits in quiet frustration for customers to visit his falafel stand, which has been deserted since the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7.
Its breakfast and lunch offerings were popular with artisans from workshops near Al-Bireh, Ramallah's twin city, before the Israel-Hamas war broke out.
“Now they are bringing their meals from home because the situation is so difficult,” Ghazawneh told AFP, fearing he will have to close his shop if the war in Gaza continues.
Ghazawneh says his income has dropped from around 7,000 shekels ($1,850) a month to just 2,000 shekels ($530).
Its deteriorating situation reflects the current state of the West Bank economy, which is in shambles during the war in Gaza.
The conflict erupted after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of around 1,140 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest Israeli figures.
According to the Hamas government's health ministry in Gaza, Israel's brutal retaliation has killed at least 24,448 people, around 70 percent of them women, children and young people.
The World Bank estimates the West Bank's GDP could fall by six percent this year, while the International Labor Organization says 32 percent of jobs have already been lost.
According to Taher al-Labadi, a researcher at the French Middle East Institute (Ifpo), the unemployment rate has risen to 30 percent from 14 percent before the war.
– Balloon losses –
Israel has also revoked 130,000 work permits from Palestinians in the West Bank, leaving many without a source of income.
The three million Palestinians living in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, are not allowed to enter Israel without permission.
Bishara Jubran, manager of a household products and cosmetics factory in Ramallah, considers himself lucky because he has managed to keep all 70 of his employees informed.
But his company is stopping producing soaps made from Dead Sea ingredients that he used to sell to hotels.
With the war raging and visitors staying away, he estimates his losses last year at $200,000.
He keeps his factory afloat by selling washing powder and other household products on the Palestinian market.
But none of its goods are allowed to enter Gaza, a key market that once accounted for 20 percent of its sales.
In the West Bank, transport costs have increased due to the increasing number of checkpoints and the Israeli army's closure of certain cities, says Bishara.
“Often the truck sets off and it takes them about four or five hours to get to the north of Nablus before they realize it can't enter the city. So he just comes back,” he says.
Now he delivers every two to three days, compared to two days before the war.
According to Abdo Idris, president of the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce, such factors have led to a decline in the economy, which is now operating at 50 percent capacity.
– Economy 'suffocated' –
The Palestinian economy was already “suffocated” before the war and was heavily dependent on Israel, says researcher Labadi.
The Oslo Accords of the 1990s agreed that the political status quo would be maintained and Palestinians were promised economic development.
However, this status quo has been undermined by Israel's “colonization of the West Bank,” says Labadi, complaining that the economic development of the Palestinians “has not happened.”
As a result, the increasingly fragile Palestinian economy is “stripped of all its resources and has very limited resilience capacity” in times of crisis, he says.
Israel controls the borders of the West Bank and levies taxes on Palestinian products, which it then has to pay to the Palestinian Authority.
But since October 7, these taxes have not been paid.
According to the Palestinian Finance Ministry, Israel had not paid two billion shekels in taxes on Palestinian products as of December.
The Palestinian Authority has struggled to pay its officials since taxes were withheld.
Officials told AFP that their salaries for December had still not been paid.
In October they received 50 percent of their wages and in November 65 percent.
“The fear of the unknown kills us,” says Jubran. “We don’t know if we can go to work tomorrow.”
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