Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank are choking the Palestinian economy

In the village of Rujeib, southeast of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian-owned dairy farm suffered a severe blow when a routine shipment of raw milk was delayed at an Israeli military checkpoint.

Al-Kamel Dairy Factory, established in ۲۰۲۲, has two distribution trucks permanently parked in its yard due to a sharp decline in market demand and mobility issues.

The reason for this is the proliferation of military roadblocks across the occupied West Bank since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October ۲۰۲۳.

These checkpoints were established to maintain Israel’s ongoing occupation of the West Bank and to guard Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law. This has coincided with a wave of pogroms by Israeli settlers on Palestinian towns and villages.

There are about ۹۲۵ checkpoints and military gates across the occupied West Bank, ۱۴۷ located in the Nablus governorate, which is Al-Kamel’s primary market, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CRRC).

There has been a drop of more than ۵۰ percent in transport movement in the occupied West Bank since the onset of the genocidal war on Gaza.

The disruptions caused by travel obstructions in the occupied Palestinian territory have severely inflated production and transport costs for Palestinian companies. Al-Kamel has seen sales decline by ۳۰ to ۴۰ percent, forcing the company to lay off at least ۱۲ workers.

“Since the beginning of the company’s establishment, there were several challenges, and among the most prominent of these challenges were the checkpoints and gates spread across the West Bank, and especially the city of Nablus,” Dweikat told Al Jazeera.

“There is a severe siege on the city of Nablus, as you can barely find an entrance to the city of Nablus without a permanent or semi-permanent checkpoint. These checkpoints have led to obstructing movement and increasing transport costs, which necessarily reflects on the product’s price and production costs.”

High unemployment rates, particularly after the suspension of work permits for Palestinian workers in Israel during the genocidal war on Gaza, and a decrease in salaries, have all affected economic activity in the occupied West Bank.

“Unfortunately, in light of the bad economic situation we suffer from due to recession and economic contraction, factories sometimes cannot reflect this increase in cost onto the citizen, because the economic situation is originally deteriorating,” Dweikat said.

Al-Kamel milk trucks now wait for two to three hours to exit Nablus and for longer at surrounding checkpoints. For a commodity as vulnerable to spoilage as milk, these delays are hugely costly for the company.

“We work in the dairy products sector, which is a very sensitive sector that requires refrigerated trucks, and therefore the volume of challenges is very large for us,” said Dweikat. “Frankly, we were forced to sacrifice many of our customers located outside the city of Nablus as a result of these obstacles.”

At the Awarta checkpoint outside Nablus, approximately ۲km from the factory, milk trucks can wait for up to four hours to pass through. Delays at checkpoints have seen ۱۰ tonnes of Al-Kamel’s milk go to waste.

“In the end, when it is midday, we tell the driver: ‘That’s it, there is no longer room to exit … and this represents a real danger to the safety of our employees in light of the deteriorating security situation,’” Dweikat said.

Empty markets

A March ۲۰۲۵ study published by the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS) provides an alarming analysis of the situation.

After monitoring ۱۴ military checkpoints, MAS found that wait times range from ۱۵ to ۵۰ minutes, with the average delay for trips outside the Nablus governorate reaching ۴۲ minutes – a ۷۷.۹ percent increase in original travel time.

It is estimated that ۱۹۱,۱۴۶ working hours are lost daily due to these delays, costing the Palestinian economy approximately ۲.۸ million shekels ($۷۶۴,۶۰۰) per day, or ۶۲.۲ million shekels ($۱۶.۸m) a month.

Drivers are forced to cover extra distances to bypass closed checkpoints, costing an estimated ۷۱,۰۰۰ shekels ($۱۹,۲۰۳) in additional fuel daily.

This is affecting the local economy in Nablus badly, with Mansour Aliwi, a local spice merchant, describing the city as a ghost town.

“Frankly, the crisis is deepening month after month due to Israel’s closure of crossings and checkpoints, and the prevention of the entry of Arab Israelis into the West Bank,” Aliwi told Al Jazeera. “We rely heavily on shoppers from the rural areas and villages, but the checkpoints have prevented people from arriving”.

The Israeli separation barrier, which cuts into the West Bank, is another major obstacle to mobility.

“The annexation and expansion wall built by the occupation state in ۲۰۰۲ still isolates more than ۲۹۵sq km [۱۱۴sq miles] of citizens’ lands,” the CRRC said.

“If the occupation state completes building the planned parts, it will completely isolate ۵۶۰sq km [۲۱۶sq miles], approaching ۹ percent of the total land in the West Bank.”

Palestinian business journalist Jafar Sadaqa told Al Jazeera that the repercussions of the checkpoints and restrictions on movement prevent workers from reaching their jobs and affect business operations.

“The intensification of these checkpoints over the past three years has led to far-reaching consequences, such as the bankruptcy of companies and their cessation of operations, and subsequently the loss of jobs for thousands of workers and employees, pushing unemployment to unprecedented rates,” Sadaqa said.

“An economy with severed ties cannot be built. There is a complete separation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and a siege and isolation for each of them, not only from each other, but also from the outside world.”

He believes the true cost goes beyond direct financial losses for businesses and workers in the West Bank, but it means that economic growth here is almost impossible.

“It is difficult to calculate the total size of the loss in the Palestinian economy due to these measures,” Sadaqa said.

“They are not limited only to direct financial losses resulting from preventing the movement of individuals and goods, and the destruction of agricultural lands and facilities, but also include the lost opportunities for the Palestinian economy to exploit natural and commercial resources, and the prevention of any possibility to develop regional and global economic relations.”