Did Israels redeployment allow Palestinians to develop a viable state?
No. Israel has maintained tight restrictions on movement of people and goods into and out of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, smothering the Palestinian economy. As a World Bank report observed prior to disengagement: “Palestinian economic recovery depends on a radical easing of internal closures throughout the West Bank [and Gaza] the opening of Palestinian external borders to commodity trade, and sustaining a reasonable flow of Palestinian labor into Israel.” (2) In the Occupied West Bank, Israel maintains hundreds of checkpoints that fragment Palestinian communities. Palestinian goods are unloaded and reloaded onto different trucks several times before reaching their final destination. For example, goods originating from Hebron (in the Occupied West Bank) destined for Nablus (also in the Occupied West Bank) must be unloaded and reloaded an estimated seven times, increasing transportation costs and the time goods take to reach their destination. The Gaza Strip has witnessed signific
