Jews for Justice for Palestinians, January 15th, 2017
The poverty rate among the East Jerusalem Arab population is about 80%. But West Jerusalem could not survive without this supply of cheap Palestinian labour. Photo by Mohammed Shinawi
Economic Collapse in East Jerusalem: Strategies for Recovery
Al Shabaka
November 30, 2016
[...] This brief by Al-Shabaka Policy Fellow Nur Arafeh focuses on Israel’s deliberately engineered economic collapse of East Jerusalem, which renders the city essentially unlivable for Palestinians so as to ensure Jewish control over it [....]
[...] This situation was compounded further by the heavy taxes imposed by Israeli authorities to stifle Palestinian business activity. Palestinian merchants are required to pay six taxes: arnona, or property tax, value added tax, income tax, national insurance, payroll tax, and license tax. The inability of most Palestinian merchants to pay these taxes given the decline in their businesses has put many of them in debt. Israeli authorities have been offering merchants generous incentives to sell their stores if they cannot pay taxes, thus using taxation as a tool to confiscate Palestinian property and expand Jewish control over and colonization of the Old City.
