Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute The Economic Base of Israel’s Colonial Settlements in the West Bank Nu’man Kanafani Ziad Ghaith 2012 The Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) Founded in Jerusalem in 1994 as an independent, non-profit institution to contribute to the policy-making process by conducting economic and social policy research. MAS is governed by a Board of Trustees consisting of prominent academics, businessmen and distinguished personalities from Palestine and the Arab Countries. Mission MAS is dedicated to producing sound and innovative policy research, relevant to economic and social development in Palestine, with the aim of assisting policy-makers and fostering public participation in the formulation of economic and social policies. Strategic Objectives Promoting knowledge-based policy formulation by conducting economic and social policy research in accordance with the expressed priorities and needs of decision-makers. Evaluating economic and social policies and their impact at different levels for correction and review of existing policies. Providing a forum for free, open and democratic public debate among all stakeholders on the socio-economic policy-making process. Disseminating up-to-date socio-economic information and research results. Providing technical support and expert advice to PNA bodies, the private sector, and NGOs to enhance their engagement and participation in policy formulation. Strengthening economic and social policy research capabilities and resources in Palestine. Board of Trustees Ghania Malhees (Chairman), Ghassan Khatib (Treasurer), Luay Shabaneh (Secretary), Mohammad Mustafa, Nabeel Kassis, Radwan Shaban, Raja Khalidi, Rami Hamdallah, Sabri Saidam, Samir Huleileh, Samir Abdullah (Director General). Copyright © 2012 Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) P.O. Box 19111, Jerusalem and P.O. Box 2426, Ramallah Tel: ++972-2-2987053/4, Fax: ++972-2-2987055, e-mail: [email protected] Web Site: www.mas.ps Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute The Economic Base of Israel’s Colonial Settlements in the West Bank Nu’man Kanafani Ziad Ghaith 2012 The Economic Base of Israel’s Colonial Settlements in the West Bank Researcher : Nu'man Kanafani, University of Copenhagen and Director of Research at MAS Ziad Ghaith, Research Associate at MAS Reviewer: Dr. Samir Abdullah, Director General, (MAS) Dr. Mohammad Nasr, Birzeit University Dr. Khalil Tafakji, Director of the Mapping and GIS Department of the Arab Studies Society, Jerusalem. Layout: Lina Abdallah Funding: This study was funded by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) – Islamic Development Bank (IDB) – Al-Aqsa Fund Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) Jerusalem and Ramallah ISBN 978-9950-374-14-0 Foreword The Israeli colonization of the Palestinian territory, which started after 1976, is settler colonization; it extends control over Palestinian land and other natural resources and exploits them exclusively for the benefit of Israelis. It uproots the indigenous Palestinian inhabitants from their land and houses and substitutes them with new and old Jewish immigrants from Israel. Most of the studies that deal with the Israeli colonial activities in the Palestinian Territory concentrate on providing information about the size of the confiscated areas, the number of housing units built in settlements and the number of settlers. The economics of the settlements, i.e the type of economic activities in the colonies, in the settlers’ industrial parks, the number of workers in the productive units and the levels of productivity and wages remain without documentation or thorough analysis. The present study deals with the economic base of the settlements and is the first of its kind in Arabic. It intends to fill this gap and to shed light on the economic dimensions of Israeli colonial activities. It comes at a time when there is a need to accelerate resistance to colonization, and to boycott settlements’ products in both local and international markets, a colonization which violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and international law. The present study makes an important contribution to our knowledge about the economic foundation of the settlements and provides detailed information on Israeli violations of international law and Palestinian rights. I would like to thank all those who have contributed to this study starting with the research authors, those who provided the data and the reviewers from research institutions, private and public sectors, and civil society. In the end I would like to express our gratitude to the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and the Islamic Development Bank who sponsor the research program addressing the priorities of the Palestinian national authorities, which this study is part of. Dr. Samir Abdullah Director General i ii Contents Chapter I:The Settlers and Settlements 1 1.1 Historical Background of Colonial Settlement 1 1.2 Number and Areas of Settlements 4 1.3 Distribution of the settlements by type 4 1.4 Distribution of Settlements by Administration and Ideology 6 1.5 Number of settlers and their demographic structure 9 1.6 Geographical Distribution of the settlers 14 1.7 Higher Education Institutions 14 Chapter II : Labor Force and Employment 17 2.1 Labor Force Distribution 17 2.2 Place of Residence and Place of Work 18 2.3 Palestinian Labor in the West Bank Settlements 20 Chapter III : Economic Activity in the Settlements 23 3.1 The Agricultural Sector in the Settlements 24 3.2 The Industrial Sector in the West Bank Settlements 26 3.3 Quarries and Rock Crushers 32 3.4 Tourism and Natural Reserves 33 3.5 Surface water and groundwater 35 3.6 Settlement Exports 36 Chapter IV : Subsidies to the Settlements 41 4.1 Government Support for the Budgets of the Settlement Authorities 42 4.2 Facilities and support for industrial zones 46 4.3 Financing Housing and Banks' Support to Settlers 48 4.4 The Economic Cost of Settlements 50 4.5 The Estimated Monetary Worth of the Settlements 52 4.6 The Costs of Evacuation 56 Chapter V : Weight of Settlements in the Israeli Economy 59 5.1 Contribution to the Israeli GDP 60 5.2 Private consumption expenditure 61 5.3 General government expenditure 62 5.4 Fixed Capital Formation (Investment) 63 iii Conclusions and Policy Recommendations 65 References 69 Appendices 73 iv List of Tables Table 1: Number and location of the settlements in the West Bank Table 2: Settlements in East Jerusalem Table 3: Number of settlers in the West Bank Table 4: Number of Jewish households in West Bank settlements (excluding Jerusalem) Table 5: Immigration to Israel and the rates of immigrants to the settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem area Table 6: New immigrants to Israel who settled in the West Bank and Jerusalem, by country of origin Table 7: Number of settlers by place of residence in the West Bank Table 8: Features of civilian labor force in the settlements (excluding Jerusalem) Table 9: Distribution of settlements employment (excluding Jerusalem)- by sector Table 10: Distribution of settlers by locality of residence and place of work Table 11: Place of work of employees living in West Bank settlements (excluding Jerusalem) Table 12: Ratio of foreign workers to employed persons in Israel and average monthly wage Table 13: Distribution of Palestinians working in Israeli settlements by Industry Table 14: Wage rates in the Palestinian Territory and the settlements Table 15: Area of cultivated land in Israel and the West Bank settlements Table 16: Animal products in the West Bank settlements Table 17: Industrial sector in Israel (including the settlements of the West Bank) Table 18: Number and specializations of establishments in Adumim Industrial Zone Table 19: Israeli Industrial Zones on the occupied Palestinian territory Table 20: Technical level of industrial establishments Table 21: Some Israeli quarries in the Palestinian territory Table 22: Production of the Jordan Valley settlements Table 23: Names of companies that export settlement products to the UK market Table 24: Explicit allocations in the Israeli budget for settlements support v Table 25: Israeli banks activities in the settlements Table 26: Estimates of the economic cost of settlements (1970-2005) Table 27: The Cost of Israeli occupation on the Palestinian economy Table 28: Estimated cost of buildings in West Bank settlements (Excluding East Jerusalem) Table 29: Estimates of value of buildings and infrastructure of West Bank settlements Table 30: Structure of payments to settlers evacuated in 2005 Table 31: Distribution of the GDP of Israel and the Arab occupied territories (2007) Table 32: Private Consumption Expenditure Table 33: Israel's General Government Expenditure Table 34: Fixed Capital Formation vi List of Figures Figure 1: Number of housing units established in settlements (1986- 2009) Figure 2: Distribution of Rural Settlements by Type (2008) Figure 3: Distribution of Settlers by Type of Settlement (2010) Figure 4: Distribution of Settlements by Regional Councils Figure 5: Distribution of Settlers by Settlement's Ideology Figure 6: Distribution of settlement households by number of children Figure 7: Settlers born outside Israel- by year of migration Figure 8: Distribution of industrial facilities in the settlements, by locality Figure 9: Sources of Income for Israeli Regional Councils Figure 10: Sources of Income for Settlement Regional Councils vii viii Executive Summary Palestinians have access to relatively good information