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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/20/AR2007102001307.html
A "Win-Win" Situation for Palestinian Workers and Settlement Businesses
[Washington Post] Scott Wilson - Since the September 2000 start of the most recent Palestinian uprising, according to the World Bank, the Palestinian gross domestic product per capita has shrunk 30% - to $1,129. By contrast, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Israel's per-capita GDP is $31,767, nearly double what it was on the eve of the Palestinian uprising. Seeking to improve Abbas' tenuous political standing, the Israeli government is allowing more Palestinian trade and employment inside Israel and its settlements. "The West Bank economy will go up, and Gaza will go the other way," said Lt. Col. Baruch Persky, who heads the economic branch of Israel's military administration in the territories. On the eve of the uprising, 136,000 Palestinians, or nearly a quarter of the labor force, worked inside Israel or in Israeli-owned enterprises in the territories. Today, 47,400 Palestinians from the West Bank, or less than 9% of the workforce, have such permits. Half of the Palestinians with Israeli work permits are employed by Israeli-owned enterprises in the territories, an arrangement Persky calls "a win-win situation" for the Palestinian workers and settlement businesses.