the economy of the west bank in israel, as a result of the genocidal war is still suffering from lack of economic activity or low economic activity. many stores are still uh closed tourism at record low levels and lack of workers top of every. anything else is playing the economy, whether there's a chance for the palestinians to get back on their feet or for israel's economy to get jump started is a subject of this edition of of economic divide. coming up in this program, palestine's economy, first we're going to take a look at the gdp decrease for the fourth quarter, minus 33%, then uh the west bank gdp, that was a low of minus 22%. so uh, there is obvious concerns. there unemployment

plus 30%, another concern for the economy of palestine, consumer price increases in the west bank is also a source of concern, lower incomes, supply chain bottlenecks and in transport costs are some of the factors, then we're going to take a look at israel's banks and their credits, well five of them have been downgraded, the higher borrowing cost based on uh the moodies credit downgrading them and so these higher prices are passed to of the consumers. israel's genocidal war on the gaza strip and of its hostilities toward lebanon has displaced thousands of israelis inside the regime. thousands of israeli settlers have been forced to leave their towns and villages near the regime. separation line with gaza strep

in the south and lebanon in the north. the northern occupied lands are primarily agriculture, along with tourist spots and tight communities with small businesses, thus the sudden, unexpected and unprepared population drop has shocked the economy. in november, the bank of israel estimated the absence at work of 144,00 evacuated settlers, about 40% of whom fled the north, had caused of israel's economy about 590 million checkles or $158 million dollar each week. entire businesses, farms and even wineries have been abandoned. some figures estimate that as many as thousands of businesses are closed. on the agricultural front, products that take precious months to nurture and develop will now grow stale and rot. time now to take a look. some of the social media posts: first

up, the lives of palestinians in the west bank and in the gaza strip are only controlled by the pa and hamas up to point, of and a very local level, israel controls the economy, the movements and everything else in the west bank and in gaza. next, rethinking the financial infrastructure connecting gaza, east jerusalem and the west bank to the rest of the world, should be a priority to establish a functional palestinian economy. then, janet says, travel and commerce restrictions on the west bank in israel's interest. hurting palestinian economy and raising the risk of regional conflict. this was a response, but we picked it anyways. it said also very good question. gaza, pre-war had strong agriculture and fishing industries, strong enough to export goods to israel, the west bank, egypt and jordan. all right, so you can see how the gaza strip was pivotal when it came even israel's economy. time to introduce our guest for our first segment of the q&a. we have first up isabella agostinelli. she is a specialist. in

palestine studies who joins us. isabella agostanelli, welcome to economic divide. let me come in first about uh the settlers and the residences on the fake border with gaza and also of course in southern lebanon where they have been uprooted. they're receiving help from israel uh, how much of a hit has israel's economy taken from these people being displaced? yeah, actually i believe that the greater impact on israel's economy does not come from the government's. towards the settlers of course it has an impact, but according to an article published by the financial times and other organizations in february, the israeli economy already shrink almost 20% in the final quarter of 2030, 2000, 2023, sorry, and it was impacted by the war obviously against the palestinians from gaza, and this impact... was caused in part

by the call up of almost 300 thousand of reservists and also by the restrictions imposed on the palestinian workers from the west bank, so the israeli economy is is very dependent on the exploration of palestinian workforce, but it is also worth mentioning that the government spengature with arms and the warfare in gaza, which is very costly, has been greater, that far greater than the help towards the israeli settlers even though israel has a strong war economy. all right, thank you for that. let me bring you our next guest uh, she is marsha baker. she is economic expert at larusch movement. marshall baker, welcome to economic divide. israel uh has been impacted uh in more ways than one when it comes to its economy, from imports, exports to different sectors like the agriculture or the construction sector, but the international standing has taken a huge hit. my question to you is how badly do you think uh that will actually um spill over to

its trade, its international standing taking such huge hit, and uh of course this economy, the functioning of the different sectors. an economy, namely in israel, manufacturing, high-tech, agriculture, retail, none of this is normal or can be sustained, what was done agriculture with high-tech irrigation does not have the labor from foreign sources, which was bad in any case to operate a country based on foreign labor, but none of this is functioning, the even the the uh normal water or electricity, all these kinds of factors cannot be counted on in this situation. time now for the infinis section

the program, we're going to take a look at the our first entry on bricks and the payment system uh bricks to create what's called a blockchain based payment system. the measure is in line with the group's plans to cut reliance on western currencies, in particular the us dollar and also financial mechanisms. now what is the goal is to create this within the bricks framework in order to have an independent settlement payment system that would be based on the most modern technologies such as digital currencies and blockchain. this entry is making some news as we speak, it's about a us port in the gaza. trip, that's what the us has proposed in order to, according to the us version, step up aid delivery to gaza, it's been criticized, however as a distraction. now the plan criticized as attempt to divert attention from the widening famon in the gaza strip as israel obstructs aid operations. now

our take on that is, why didn't the us helped gaza when it was under a land, air and sea blockade for over 17 years, which led to deaths, malnutrition and diseases, like it is now, i'll be it a lower pace, all right, something to think about. next up, this country is definitely going through some hard times, haiti is almost on the cusp of a civil war, gangs there have succeeded in transforming their territorial control into social, economic and military domination. the year 2023 was marked by gang violence, the un recorded over uh 4700, to be exact, 4,789 people, which were murdered, who were murdered, that is, and 2,490 officially kidnapped with homicide rate of 40.9 per 100 thousand inhabitants, which is more than double that of 2022, and uh, taking a look at

the economy, it contracted for four consecutive years, and that contraction is still continuing. next up, an important corridor for the islamic republic of iran and pakistan, news came out that iran's technical and engineering companies are prepared to contribute to a joint gas pipeline project as well as the renovation of pakistan steel mills. the completion of the gas pipeline benefits pakistan and seems to be suitable option to assist the country overcome its energy crisis. good news for both countries. with that we come to uh an end of our inf news section of course we always recommend you sending us a piece of news, economy and flavor from. wherever you are, we would appreciate that. contact information is coming up. the palestinian

resistance hamas has presented to mediators a proposal for sease fire in gaza which includes a first phase involing the release of women, children, elderly and sick israeli entity captives in exchange. for releasing between 700 to 1,000 palestinian prisoners, including 100 with life sentences or high sentences. furthermore, the proposal also includes hamas's agreement to date for a permanent. at seasfire after the initial prisoner exchange, while the office of the israeli entity prime minister considered hamas's response to be unrealistic, some israeli entity officials hinted that this awaited response, which they had been anticipating for weeks, could represent a sign of progress. it might allow for transitioning to more serious negotiations regarding detailed deal in a later stage in the qatari capital daha. back to gaza talks this week on the midiast stream. the section

the program: there are number of ways that israel is controlling the palestinian economy, a practice that has been going on for decades. let's take a look at some of the ways that israel is doing that. take a look at this next uh graph here, we took some of the categories that we figured is important and uh one of them is the palestinian resources, which comprises of land for example, water. that's a very important one and the next one is natural resources. now when it comes to natural resources uh this uh is very important because some say that the onslot uh may have this uh as a reason for it to happen and it concerns the uh gaza marine as you see over there and uh this uh section that's come out here are where these gas fields exist and the gas fields are and these reserves that exist in that area. perhaps one the reasons for uh the aggression, it's valued at $4.592 billion dollars. uh, it

hasn't been uh explored yet, so uh the actual amounts uh may either increase or decrease, but there are foreign companies including european ones were helping israel loot gaza's natural gas reserves, and it was in late october after the aggression started, i don't if you remember, is when israel announced that it had awarded concessions for natural gas exploration to these uh foreign companies, okay? now next up uh let's take a look at another uh item that has been uh very controversial throughout the years and it's called under the israel illegal practices settlements settlements is illegal under international law uh the um settlements has uh contributed to the negative economic uh uh movements for palestinians for example 24,300 them uh from october through december was announced and then just in march of this year 3,500 new ones were announced. so uh this was based on the un report uh the size of existing israeli settlements has always um

expanded marketly and we can see how that has happened uh no matter who has been in the white house uh onto the uh next uh item that we looked at and this is another way that israel is exercising is aparthide um practices and their home demolitions now based on what has happened in the west bank from the year 2022 we looked at 55,4 or 55,48 these home demonitions that took place, then the gaza strip, the most recent one is what we can take a look at and you can see how 300, that's 70% of the total uh structures that exist in the gaza strip have been destroyed, and that's another way that israel restricts the expansion of the palestinian economy, the next graph shows how the situation for the palestinian economy has become um very dire and this came actually from uh the world bank in terms of the growth

uh the 2023 pre-conflict uh had this figure as a projection 3.2%, but then uh when uh we saw the aggression take place that figure has been revised where uh the world bank has says that there will be negative 6.4% um contraction attributing this change to obviously the onslot and the overall deterioration in the west bank. okay. let's see what our guests think about this, let's bring them back uh, we have isabella agostinelli, specialized a specialist in palestine studies who rejoins us, welcome back economic divide, isabella augustinelli, the aggression of this uh genocidal war is something that there are some that say that even if it means that it's going to at some point end, it's not going to mean that uh it's going to be the end of the econ. ramifications both for israel and for the palestinians, because there's not a political

solution that has been reached in the meantime, how badly do you think that will affect investors when it comes to investments in the palestine or the gaza strip? well, i honestly do not believe that investors in general will be worried about the palestinians, of course they will be worried about their humanity and everything, but the israeli economy... is more important to the investors since uh israel um gets more investments in general when we when we compare to the investment investments towards the palestinians. so the end of the war, as you notice, does not mean a true and sustainable peace, but since we are talking about a apapertide regime and a military occupation, it is, obviously, it is obvious that the occupier power will recover its economy in a more rapid manner compared to

the occupied population and economy, especially with the help the great power, so we must um expect that the great powers will uh invest more in israel and not so much in the palestinians, the palestinians uh until today they rely so much in the humanitarian assistance, the international humanitarian assistance, but in terms of investments and everything is still very different, the the investments compared to the israel. thank you for that uh, let me bring in uh marshall baker back into the program, marshall baker, economic expert at laurash movement. marshall baker, welcome back uh, when you take a look at what's happened uh with the um onslot continuing at the pace that it is, that doesn't seem to be um an end to it any anytime soon, but even if it does end uh there's this uh political lack of a political

solution which will compromise and uh im continue to impact both israel and palestine's economy. um, until there's a resolved there, how do you think things are going to turn out, economically speaking? the situation for israel without an economic, diplomatic, political solution throughout the entire region is death for the nation of israel, because there is no basis for any normal trade, any normal investment, any normal education for a future. now there the one way to look... at this is the best thing for israel, which is the best thing and long do for palestinians, is there a calls for an international conference on development. the organization for islamic cooperation has a representative at the united nations, and on march 5th, that the un. "the israel economy

is also taking hits in other ways, banded houses, stores and other infrastructure are used by zionist forces as the security zone expands, only to become military targets for resistance to destroy, but the crisis does not stop there. israel has seen a sharp drop in imports and exports, humanism forced a crippling and very effective blockade in the red sea and has successfully shut down israel's third busiest port, the port of ilat, spending is also at an all-time low with..." credit card usage below 70% of the norm, even if the hostilities and recovery for the israely economy would be very slow and could possibly take many years, that's because war has exacerbated long standing

problems, one is the economy's reliance on low-paid palestinian workers, the west bank may import many goods from israel as before the onslot, but his 210 th00 day laborers, equivalent to 5% of israel's workforce, cannot get out. their permits were canceled after october 7th, and the regime is refusing to let them back in, and since israel is refusing to accept a long-term political solution that is acceptable to both. this will negatively impact investor confidence and the economy for israel. hello and welcome to the quick take section, i'm mattia aprian in 1967 when israel continued its occupation of palestine, including al-quts, it annexed palestinian markets in these areas into its own economy in a selective and unequal manner. the palestinian economy was thriving

before 1967. it generated production and significant income to sustain a growing population. of 1 million people and gave rise to gdp per capita of around $1,300, making it lower middle income economy. before the occupation, agriculture was the most important component of the palestinian economy. it employed about a quarter of the labor force and contributed around a third of gdp and exports. since the start of the occupation, palestinians have lost access to more than 60% of... the west bank and two/thirds of its grazing land in gaza, half the area that is capable of being cultivated, and 85% of the fishery resources are inaccessible to... producers. palestinians have been denied access to area sea and that is a system by design that the israeli regime executed so it can gain the most from the

occupied land. the denial of area sea to palestinians means that palestinians don't have access to area that accounts for more than 60% of the west bank and more than two-thirds of grazing land with more than 2.5 million productive trees destroyed under occupate. since 1967. here's a graph showing decline of the palestinian gdp in their own land due to the occupation and apartite practices by the israeli regime. it is pretty obvious that there has been a declining gdp reflecting the impact of the occupation, which now, with the israeli aggression against gaza, it is bound to get worse. israel also controls the revenues of the palestinian authority, which is in control of the west bank and that. another way, the regime controls and restricts the west bank economy. the palestinian leakage to israel is in the range of 3.6% of its gdp, or 17% of

total palestinian public revenues. if this did not happen, the pa's revenues could expand palestinian fiscal policy and increase annual gdp by about 4% and generate 10,000 additional jobs per year. that's the end of. this quick take segment, don't forget to send us your comments and questions, i'm i'll see you next week. the situation for both the palestinian and israely economy looks grim unless there's a viable political solution which does not seem. to be on the horizon as of yet. the islamic jod actually said something interesting, it said that even if the onslot and aggression ends, given that the other onslot scenarios don't happen, the political

conflict will be open-ended, meaning that the economic atmosphere will still be poisonous both in the west bank and also in israel. it's a great point that he made there. that is with this edition of the program. thanks for being with us, hope you enjoyed it. uh, we did our best to bring you different aspects of israels and palestine's economy. if you did or didn't, contact information is behind me. send us your comments, from me. the tire tomate economic divide. this goodbye, until the next program.

in this episode of irantic we're taking a look a system that allows us to more closely examine ancient findings and uh let us know about the material that they're made from without. damaging it, the time period that they were from and the location that they originated from and not necessarily found in, and that is all possible thanks to kind of portal accelerator known as the vandday graph. stay tuned, don't miss it. in later. 2023, south africa filed case at the international court of justice, icj over the israeli apathi regime's genocidal war against palestinians in the besieg gaza strip. south africa stated that the telavive

regime has failed to uphold its commitments under the 1948 genocide convention. south africa filed the locit against the israeli regime at the end of december, noting that israel's actions in gaza that started last october are genocidal character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the palestinian. national, racial and ethnic group, we have a special guest to discuss the topic today, he's none other than south african ambassador to iran, his excellency dr. francis moloy. thank you, mr. ambassador for your time today. thank you very much for inviting me. it's a pleasure to be here.

the headlines, the israeli regime strikes various locations in gaza, including rafa and gaza city raising palestinians death tool to over 32,000. russia and china have vedod a us draft resolution at the un security council for failing to genuinely call for immediate ceasefire in gaza, and several israelis have been injured in a palestinian retaliatory operation in the occupied west bank.