The US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen criticized it Israel for withholding work permits and preventing Palestinian movement from the occupied West Bank, saying the measures hurt both sides and risk igniting a wider regional conflict.
“We don't want to see the conflict spread to other areas”, Yellen said in an interview with Reuters late yesterday. “Israel is a friend and we talk to them regularly. If we see something that worries us, we tell our partners what we think about it.”
Last Tuesday, she told reporters that she had sent a letter to the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express its concerns and welcome Israel's agreement to resume tax revenue transfers to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel's economy hit the brakes when gunmen from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and triggering Israeli attacks on Gaza that have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians.
Hundreds of thousands of people were called up from the reserve in one of the largest conscriptions in Israel. Thousands of Palestinian workers were fired and have not been allowed to return to work.
The World Bank estimates that Palestinian economy shrank 6.4% last year, reversing a forecast of 3.2% growth, due to the war in Gaza and the deterioration in the West Bank. The situation in Gaza is much worse, with over 80% of homes destroyed or damaged and 2 million people displaced.
Yellen said Israel's travel and trade restrictions are hitting the Palestinian economy hard and “freezing” a number of construction projects in Israel, creating a labor shortage.
“From what I understand, there are construction sites that were forced to close because they had insufficient labor, so it's not good for Israel's economy, or the economy of the West Bank,” he said in the interview. “I don't think any of this is in Israel's interest.”
The US is also concerned about the economy of neighboring Egypt, which has taken a hit in revenue from a 55% drop in traffic through the Suez Canal and a significant drop in tourism, Yellen said.
Egypt is close to reaching an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that would expand its current $3 billion program, Yellen said, without elaborating.
“We are definitely in favor of the IMF helping Egypt, and its problems have intensified mainly with the situation in the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. It has driven their incomes and tourism down,” Yellen said.
Source: News Beast
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