Life in the West Bank at a Standstill After 200 Days of War in Gaza
(AWP) - A quick look at the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank reveals another chapter of their suffering, pain and upheaval, with their livelihoods stagnating after 200 days of the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.
They describe this war as a turning point in the lives of many Palestinians in the West Bank, following the killings, airstrikes and the unprecedented wave of arrests in the territory, as well as the economic and social repercussions that followed, adding a new burden to their already complex living conditions.
The effects of the Gaza war have extended to include many sectors in the West Bank, with Palestinians who used to work in the Israeli territories losing their income. Daily Israeli security checkpoints and complications hinder people’s movement and trade, in addition to the psychological impact left by these painful experiences.
Abdul Rahim Ghanem, a Palestinian university student, described how the war is having a massive impact on students.
He said, “We switched to e-learning, and it has its difficulties in light of the current difficult conditions that we suffer from as students and as a Palestinian society in general.”
Alaa al-Tashtoush is another young Palestinian bemoaning the dire economic conditions they have had to endure since the war started.
He said, “There is no one who has not tasted the bitterness of loss and lack of work. Those who worked inside [Israel] lost their jobs, as well as in Bethlehem and Tulkarm. I am one of those people. I lost my job and now I do some small jobs in the city.”
His comments were echoed by Mohammed al-Jabji, a taxi driver, who believes that war has drastically reduced employment in the West Bank.
He explained, “What exacerbated the crisis were the checkpoints at the city’s entrances and streets, which further exacerbated the economic decline in the city and stopped the pace of work in it by 80 to 90%. Work in the city of Nablus has ended, there is no longer work or [economic] movement.”
Majdi Kallab, who works in a company in the West Bank, lost part of his salary after he was forced to work fewer days since the beginning of the war.
“I am an employee, and since the war we have been idle for ten days every month, and our salaries have been deducted.”
Amjad Kallab, who owns a shop that sells cleaning products, believes that despite the decline in sales in the West Bank, the situation is still much better than the catastrophic conditions of Palestinians in Gaza.
He said, “We are here despite everything, living in luxury compared to our brothers in Gaza. May God help them with the situation they are facing. We hear every day about hundreds of martyrs and families being wiped out. Our heart and our thoughts are with Gaza and its sacrifice.”