Gaza war impacts Jenin, Tulkarm economies as traffic into cities dwindles - NYT

The economies of the West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarm have been significantly impacted by the Israel-Hamas War, according to a Sunday New York Times article focusing primarily on the two cities.

The NYT cited the closing of the Jalameh checkpoint, which enables Israeli Arabs to enter the West Bank city of Jenin, following the October 7 massacre, as a barrier to economic opportunities.

This closure has reportedly affected both Israeli Arabs, who can no longer visit the city, and Palestinians.

Wassif  Frahat, a local restaurant owner in Jenin, told the NYT that in addition to Israeli Arabs not being able to enter the city, Palestinians no longer visit due to a lack of funds and concerns about “incursions by Israel’s military.”

According to the article, the economic situation has impacted the Palestinian Authority, which halved the salaries it pays to approximately 140,000 employees.

A 'fiscal crisis'

In May, a report published by the World Bank stated that within the West Bank, some 144,000 jobs had been lost since the onset of the war, in addition to the 148,000 jobs of Palestinians who had worked in Israel before the Hamas-led October 7 massacre in southern Israel.

The report also stated that “the fiscal situation of the Palestinian Authority has dramatically worsened in the last three months, significantly raising the risk of a fiscal collapse.”

“The rapidly widening gap between the amount of revenues coming in and the amount needed to finance essential public expenditure is driving a fiscal crisis,” the World Bank added.

Jenin and Tulkarm have recently been the focus of counterterrorism operations by the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).