Palestine Economy Portal

Nasser Abdel Karim, an economic expert, said that the ban on the entry of the products of five Israeli companies into the West Bank will reflect positively on the Palestinian companies and economy, as it will provide the Palestinian companies with a larger market for their products and will compensate them for the losses they incurred due to Israel’s ban on the entry of their products into Jerusalem.

The ban’s positive effect on the Palestinian economy will be larger than its negative effect on the Israeli economy since the market share of the banned Palestinian products is small.

He allied the fears regarding the laying off of Palestinian workers who work in the five boycotted Israeli companies, saying that they are large companies and will not be forced down if they do not sell their products in the Palestinian market.

The Ministry of National Economy and the Palestinian Customs started implementing the Cabinet’s decision to ban the entry of the products of five Israeli companies into the West Bank this morning.

Mahmoud Abu Shanad, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Economy, told the Palestine Economy Portal that the Ministry and the Palestinian Customs sent back three trucks carrying juice produced by Tapuzina company that were headed toward the governorates of Bethlehem and Nablus.

He added that they are currently informing merchants about the ban and sending them notifications to dispose of the banned Israeli products within a period of ten days, after which the Ministry, in cooperation with the Palestinian Customs, the Security Forces and other relevant parties, will confiscate any of these remaining products.

 Abu Shanab also explained that a system is to be created on how to deal with the confiscated products and traders who violate the Cabinet’s decision. The system is to be presented to the Cabinet for approval next week. He said that the confiscated products will not just be destroyed.

The Cabinet decided to ban the entry of the products of five Israeli companies (Tnuva, Strauss, Tara, Tapuzina, and Soglowek) in response to Israel’s ban on the entry of the products of five Palestinian companies into Jerusalem and the 1948 Proper.