Israeli Bank Places $1-Billion Cost on Palestinian Uprising

One of Israel’s leading banks has estimated that coping with the two-year-old Palestinian uprising has cost the country about $1 billion in expenses and lost revenues, bank officials said this week.

In a survey published by Bank Hapoalim, economists said that boycotts against Israeli products by Palestinians in the occupied territories together with a slowdown in tourism and costs incurred by the army have cost the nation about 1% of its output of goods and services.

One bank official said the percentage of the gross national product given to the uprising was significant, but “not a dramatic influence.”

The figure for the second year of the uprising was slightly less than for the first, which cost $600 million. The survey said the impact in the second year was not as great because the economy has begun to adjust to the situation.