Journal of International Business and Economics

Economic Development Under Occupation: the Palestinian Case
Suleiman M. Abbadi

Abstract
Most studies on the subject, if not all of them, indicated that development is impossible while Israel is still occupying the Palestinian territory. This is because Israel is still controlling more than 60% of the West Bank (Area c), and it is controlling the natural resources; as well as controlling the boarders, ports and crossing points. It has built more than 150 Settlements in Palestinian areas, and settled about 670 thousand Jewish Settlers. Israel did not implement the agreements that ware signed with the Palestinians. It has been violating all international and human rights laws. It has destroyed houses, burned mosques, and imprisoned thousands of youth, children, and women. For these reasons, several writers, speakers, and economists concluded that there is no development under occupation. This paper tries to find some ways to get out from this dilemma and to find some methods to increase income, employment and production, and decrease unemployment rate and poverty. This paper has reached some ways to make economic development through disintegrating the Palestinian economy from the Israeli economy, decreasing the dependence on strategic goods from Israel through producing commodities that can be produced locally, developing and supporting the Palestinian hospitals to decrease the remittances of Palestinian patients to Israeli hospitals, developing the productive sectors of the economy and providing a financial support to these sectors. Developing the industrial zones and increase the number of partnerships with the Palestinians living in Israel, encouraging foreign direct investment through developing the encouragement investment laws and finally through renegotiating the Paris accord with Israel.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jibe.v4n1a5