New project aims to enhance economic cooperation in the West Bank
A program to enhance economic opportunities in the West Bank recently was launched with the active participation and support of both Israeli and Palestinian entrepreneurs. The project, called the “Judea Samaria Regional Development Financing Initiative,” is geared towards integrating economic planning and advancing joint ventures.
Leading the enterprise is the Judea-Samaria Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an organization founded by Israeli Avi Zimmerman and Palestinian Ashraf Jabari. “We are working on taking down borders, and both Israelis and Palestinians need to take part in this,” said Jabari, a businessman and community leader from Hebron.
Such barriers are largely the result of the stalemated peace process, which has manifested in anti-normalization policies promoted by the Palestinian Authority and mobility restrictions caused by Israel’s security control over most of the West Bank.
In a bid to forge a new reality, the project will devise mechanisms so that Israelis and Palestinians can mutually benefit from Israel’s continued economic development.
The Media Line’s Maya Margit was at the inauguration event in Jerusalem and filed this report: