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Sam Bahour – May 24, 2014 | http://bit.ly/Israel-war-on-
Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation in the West
Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip use the Israeli currency, the New
Israeli Shekel, for their daily business. However, as the peace
negotiation efforts of Secretary John Kerry stumbled (many would say
failed) in late April, Israel took many punitive measures to punish
Palestinians for not accepting full political submission.
One such measure is that Israel informed the Palestinian side that it would no longer allow Palestinian banks to transport their surplus Israeli currency to the Israeli Central Bank, an act that is unheard of in the world of banking. Israel is refusing to serve its own currency. In effect, Israel is declaring war on the Palestinian economy, risking the collapse of the thriving Palestinian banking sector, and disrupting the flow of basic goods such as electricity, petroleum, and natural gas into Palestine.
One such measure is that Israel informed the Palestinian side that it would no longer allow Palestinian banks to transport their surplus Israeli currency to the Israeli Central Bank, an act that is unheard of in the world of banking. Israel is refusing to serve its own currency. In effect, Israel is declaring war on the Palestinian economy, risking the collapse of the thriving Palestinian banking sector, and disrupting the flow of basic goods such as electricity, petroleum, and natural gas into Palestine.
Given the Palestinian economy is an extension of the Israeli one, due
to the prolonged state of military occupation, Palestinians import over
85 percent of their goods and services from Israel and sell over 80
percent of their exports to Israel. From a purely economic perspective,
given Palestine is still a state in the making and, as such, lacks its
own currency, using the Israeli currency is expected.
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