Israeli Occupation in West Bank since 2000 Exacts $58 Billion Toll: UNCTAD

Geneva: The cumulative economic cost of the tighter Israeli closure policy, restrictions and military operations in the West Bank since 2000 is estimated at $57.7 billion, according to the latest UNCTAD report to the UN General Assembly. 
 
"The closure policy and restrictions were imposed by Israel after the outbreak of the second Palestinian Intifada (uprising) in September 2000," the UN agency said in a press release on Wednesday.
 
The report, entitled "Economic costs of the Israeli occupation for the Palestinian people: Poverty in the West Bank 2000–2019", estimates that the cost is equivalent to three and a half times the occupied Palestinian territory’s GDP in 2019.

It indicates that the minimum cost of eliminating poverty in the West Bank increased six times between 1998 and 2007; from $73 million (constant 2015 US$) to $428 million. 
 
The report points out that the immediate effect of the tighter Israeli restrictions imposed on the West Bank after the second Intifada was a drastic fall in living standards and that the poorer segments of the population were affected the most.
 
The report’s projections indicate that without the Israeli closures, restrictions and military operations in the West Bank in the aftermath of the second Intifada, the poverty rate in the West Bank in 2004 would have been 12%, one third of the observed 35%. 
 
"The West Bank GDP per capita in 2019 would have been 44% higher than its actual value ($4,823) to reach $6,964 (constant 2015 US$)," the UN agency stated.
 
The report calls for the lifting of all the mobility restrictions in the occupied Palestinian territory and for the re-establishment of the contiguity of the territory by reconnecting East Jerusalem, all the cities and villages in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with each other.
 
It also calls for the enabling of the Palestinian public and private sectors to establish and operate agricultural, industrial, commercial and mining businesses in Area C (more than 60% of the West Bank area). 
 
"Until occupation is ended, these ramifications will continue to arrest Palestinian economic development while adding to the accumulated cost of the Israeli occupation for the Palestinian people," UNCTAD stated.
 
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