The shouts of street vendors punctuate the ranges of horns; downtown Hebron, the economic lung of the southern West Bank, came back to life after two months of confinement. Here and there, passers-by try not to approach their neighbors, rare are those who have put on a mask. With 2 deaths and 481 cases reported, the epidemic did not have the predicted devastating effect, but it left other traces.
Sitting at the bottom of his small jewelry store, Hassan waits for the barge. "People come to sell their gold, not to buy it", sighs the 30-year-old with blue eyes. "Usually, summer is the wedding season. June, July, August, September, I don't have time to breathe "he blurted, glancing at his half-empty display case. A few streets away, Monther Mohsab thinks he has lost " at least " 200,000 shekels (50,000 euros) since the start of the epidemic: the Eid holiday season, which ends the month of Ramadan, "Went under the nose". "Even during the Intifada, there were shops open, people worked, it was less hard", remembers the clothing merchant.
Tourism stopped
In Hebron, more than a third of the Palestinian economy is brewed. In the surrounding villages, many live on the wages of workers who go to work on the other side, in Israel. For the past week, checkpoints have reopened, some have returned to work, but the economy has slowed. The factories are running almost empty, tourism is at a standstill. "The situation will not return to normal for at least six months", says Mahmoud Sunnoqrot, an economic analyst based in Hebron. The World Bank predicts a contraction of the Palestinian economy by more than 7% – up to 11% in the darkest scenarios. The number of Palestinians living below the poverty line could then jump 30% in the West Bank.
To the post-Covid-19 economic downturn has been added a new crisis. The Palestinian government has announced that it will not pay civil servants' salaries in July if the confrontation with Israel over the annexation continues. " VSis going to have a disastrous impact ", predicts Khairi Salhab, in the midst of shimmering lace and fabrics. Above the counter, he hung pictures of the shop founder, his father, his head girded with a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh. "But what our president decides, we follow: we don't sell our cause"he says.
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