The Cost of Israeli Settler-Colonial Occupation on the Palestinian People

الملخص

This study reviews the available literature to estimate the economic cost borne by the Palestinian people as a result of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, covering the period 1948-2022. It seeks to develop a methodology through which a broad estimate of the economic cost of the occupation can be generated, drawing on existing studies and available evidence to assess the cumulative economic losses incurred by Palestinians over this period. It advances three methodologies for such an assessment: aggregation, counterfactual estimation, and occupation gains. The choice of methodology depends on the type of economic variables being assessed. By updating cost estimates employed in previous studies, the analysis indicates that Israel’s gains from its settlements and its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the period 2000-2022 range between US$955 billion and US$1.707 trillion. Furthermore, when estimating the value of the losses resulting from the Nakba of 1948 in 2022 terms, material losses are found to have increased from US$3 billion to US$719 billion between the two years.