BICOM

As a gesture to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel’s Defence Ministry is seeking to grant an additional 6,000 permits for Palestinian construction workers in Israel. The measure could help the Palestinian and Israeli economy, said the spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).

Last month, Israel granted the Palestinians an additional 5,000 permits for construction work. The newest gesture, if approved by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the cabinet, would bring the total number of permits to 30,500 for construction work in Israel, including the West Bank settlements, the spokesman said.

It is not clear, however, if Netanyahu would approve the gesture. Just two weeks ago an internal government memo expressed frustration at the Palestinian Authority for failing to respond positively to a series of recent goodwill measures. These include the signing of an economic accord with the PA aimed at enhancing trade and clamping down on tax evasion; the decision on the eve of Ramadan last month to advance the PA some NIS 180 million of tax revenue so salaries could be paid; the transfer in May to the PA of the bodies of some 90 terrorists; and the decision in July to increase by 5,000 the number of Palestinian construction work permits.

“We do not want to the PA to crash,” Guy Inbar, the COGAT spokesman said. Israel needs to do what it can to help the Palestinian economy, as long as those gestures do not harm Israel’s interests, the COGAT spokesman added.

Inbar also said that Palestinians who work in Israel earn a salary that is 2.5 times higher than what they would earn in a comparable job in the Palestinian territories, and noted that a strong Palestinian economy is essential to improving stability and security in the West Bank.