GAZA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Sunday allowed the export of a shipment of office furniture from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank as part of Israel's efforts to ease the financial crisis of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
Raed Fatouh, a coordination officer, said four truckloads of desks and chairs were exported via Kerem Shalom crossing in southeast Gaza Strip.
On Thursday, Israel approved a package of trade facilitation for the West Bank, ruled by the PNA, and the Gaza Strip, controlled by Islamic Hamas movement.
After Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, Israel kept the coastal enclave under a tight blockade for three years. In 2010, it started to ease the closure gradually to cool down international dismay against its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla aimed at challenging the blockade.
The Israeli facilitation for Gaza includes allowing more furniture, textile and agricultural produce to be exported to the West Bank and Europe.
Israel also allowed the transfer of 100 million shekels from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, where banks suffer from shortage in cash.
The new Israeli measures came after a week of public protests in the West Bank against the rising cost of living, which raised Israel's concern that the protests, if turned into violence, will affect its settlements in the West Bank.
|
