Israel has granted thousands of Palestinians permits to enter Israel for the holy month of Ramadan, drawing shoppers away from West Bank markets, a Palestinian official said Thursday.Preventing PalArabs from entering Israel is a human rights crime. Allowing them to enter Israel is an economic crime.
Palestinian youths were granted permits to enter Israel from Sunday to Thursday, but not on Fridays or Saturdays, even though worshipers seek to pray in Jerusalem on Fridays during the holy month.
West Bank markets have suffered as Palestinians head to Israel to go shopping.
Jamal Jawabreh, secretary-general of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the Palestinian economy was already suffering from a lack of liquidity, while salaries have dropped and the cost of living has increased.
Jawabreh said Israel was granting Palestinians access on all days except the days of prayer to encourage them to shop in Israel.
He said Israel was trying to counter its own deficit. The Chambers of Commerce has discussed the issue but is unable to stop Israel granting permits, he added.
The hypocrisy doesn't end there. From JPost:
A group of Palestinians from Ramallah and Jerusalem, along with Arab citizens of Israel from Haifa, Nazareth, Jaffa, and Acre have planned an awareness campaign to encourage Palestinians to buy from only Arab-owned shops. They are compiling a list of shops, restaurants and coffee-shops in Israel owned by Arab citizens of Israel.Aren't Arab Israelis - Israeli? Doesn't buying from them still help the Israeli economy?
A group member told The Media Line that they believe that Israel profits from the permits economically.
”The economy in the West Bank is very restricted and Israel decides what it allows into our markets,” Shoabi said. “With such a strong Israeli market and economy, it is already hard for our market to compete. So the least we can do is not help Israelis further especially in the holy month of Ramadan”, Shoaibi told The Media Line.
What Shoabi is really saying is that they want to boycott Jews!
But those evil Jews have their own schemes to hurt the Palestinian Arabs:
“I heard that Israeli shops granted special discounts for West Bankers last year and I want to use them,” [Jamal] Diab said.They are cunningly putting goods on sale to take advantage of the imprisoned Arabs!
Will the Israeli abuses never stop?
Oh, and how does Ma'an illustrate a story about Palestinian Arabs being allowed to enter Israel? Witha photo of the security barrier!