Last update - 00:00 18/09/2006
U.S. security official: Improving Gaza commerce is essential
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
Without the restoration of commercial activity in the Gaza Strip, there will be no security in the area, U.S. Security Coordinator Lieutenant General Keith Dayton told a group of Israeli and Palestinian businessmen last week.
Dayton was taking part in an event organized by the Peres Center for Peace, PalTrade, the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce and the Israel Manufacturers Association. He promised to continue his efforts to find solutions to the problems that exist between Israel and the Palestinians.
One of his plans involves improvement of the procedures for the transfer of goods at the Karni border crossing, between the Gaza Strip and Israel. This was one of the rare times that Dayton has expressly discussed the American stance on the crossing policies.
The main subject of the gathering was the relationship between the Israeli and the Palestinian textile industries. According to Palestinian data, the textile industry comprises 19.7 percent of the Palestinian Authority's industrial output, and it employees 17,562 persons in 2,753 factories and workshops. Close to 41 percent of the industrial workers in the West Bank and 20 percent in the Gaza Strip work in this sector of the economy.
In 2000 a total of 3,500 trucks carried textile exports to Israel through the Karni crossing; by 2005 that number fell to 1,500. Since the rise of Hamas to power, the figure has plummeted further, to a total of 299 trucks.
Officials at the Peres Center said that cooperation in the textile industry will result in more jobs in both the PA and Israel.