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Israeli Control of the Dead Sea Deprives Palestinians of $1 Billion Per Year
Israeli control of the Dead Sea deprives the Palestinian Authority of nearly $1 billion every year, the Ministry of National Economy said on Sunday. That is the estimated value of a share in mineral sales from the area.
According to World Bank and international reports, Israel and Jordan earn nearly $4.2 billion from annual sales of Dead Sea products which represent about 1 per cent of the world’s supply of potash and 12 per cent of the world production of bromine.
The ministry said in a press statement obtained by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, “If we measure the average added value of these industries to the Jordanian and Israeli economy, then the Palestinian economy will be able to increase by $962 million per year, which is equivalent to 9 per cent of the GDP in 2011, and roughly the size of the entire Palestinian manufacturing sector.”
The statement noted that if the Palestinians could access the Dead Sea mineral and energy resources, and establish large investment projects including shale, sand, asphalt, bitumen, oil and natural gas production, as well as tourism and the agricultural sector, they will be able to establish sustainable economic development.
According to the head of the mining department at the ministry, Ziad Malki, the Israeli occupation authorities allowed the establishment of several companies and factories which invested in Dead Sea resources on Palestinian territory. One of them is the well-known Israeli-owned Ahava cosmetics company which carries out its industrial activities in the Mitzpe Shalem settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com