Since the beginning of this year, the Israeli siege on the city of Jericho has been repeated several times, which affected it and the surrounding villages and towns, and caused it great economic losses, estimated at tens of millions of shekels, and affected the tourism sector in particular.

Fourth siege in four months!
Since the beginning of this year, the Israeli occupation forces imposed a siege on Jericho four times, and the number of days so far has reached 21 days, under the pretext of searching for the perpetrators of shooting attacks against Israeli targets.

The governor of Jericho and the Jordan Valley, Jihad Abu al-Assal, confirmed in an interview with Al-Quds.com that the siege on Jericho is not what the occupation claims is security, but rather it is a purely economic blockade that has harmed all aspects of life in the Jericho governorate and the Jordan Valley.

Since the beginning of this year until now, Jericho has offered 8 martyrs, all of them from Aqabat Jaber camp, south of Jericho. The occupation is still holding 7 bodies, in addition to dozens of detainees and dozens of wounded, according to Abu al-Assal.

According to Abu al-Assal, it was expected that about a million people would enter Ariha during the blessed Eid al-Fitr period, but the siege and the ongoing occupation measures so far have caused great losses to Ariha, as only 200,000 people entered it, especially since people are avoiding entering when they know that they cannot. Easy to get out of Jericho.

One hundred million shekels, according to Abu al-Assal, was expected to be for the Jericho economy, but the amount of return did not exceed 20 million shekels, which constituted an economic blow to the Jericho governorate, as the occupation is well aware that by closing it, the entire Palestinian people will be punished.

hit the tourism sector
The Israeli blockade on Jericho greatly affected local and incoming tourism, as domestic tourism declined by 80% compared to last year, and 50% affected foreign tourism compared to the previous year, especially during the holidays, confirms Iyad Hamdan, Director General of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Jericho and the Jordan Valley. An interview with "Al-Quds" dot com.

Hamdan points out that foreign tourists are heading to areas close to the Dead Sea and excluding Jericho, while local tourists are reluctant to visit Jericho to the areas of the West Bank, which has almost paralyzed Jericho.

According to Hamdan, Ariha is accustomed to tourists during the holidays and weekends, and more than 2.5 million tourists visited Ariha annually, but since the beginning of this year until now, the number has only reached about 400 thousand tourists, and the previous year the number of tourists reached In the first quarter, there were about 750,000, which means that tourism to Jericho decreased by 50%.

Losses of tens of millions of shekels
Jericho has incurred losses estimated at tens of millions of shekels since the beginning of this year until now, as a result of the occupation’s siege on it, and the damage it caused to the tourism and agricultural sectors, which are the two pillars of the economy in Jericho Governorate, explains Tayseer al-Hamidi, head of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, in an interview with Jerusalem dot com.

Al-Hamidi says: "Jericho is a tourist governorate that is one of the pillars of tourism in Palestine and the only outlet for our people. It is an agricultural country that is considered the basket of Palestinian food, and the Israeli blockade has an impact on these two sectors, causing damage to the rest of the sectors in Jericho."

According to Al-Hamidi, the central market for vegetables and fruits has been damaged and is no longer visited by merchants from all governorates as before, due to the Israeli blockade and closure, which led to a reduction in the prices of vegetables and fruits, and perhaps their damage.

And Al-Hamidi continues, and that Jericho is considered a prominent wintering and tourist place, and because of the siege, tourists were unable to enter it, which caused damage to the tourism sector, and because Jericho is the gateway to Palestine to the world, travelers were affected and were unable to enter Jericho due to the closure, and this is an economic tributary of Jericho that was damaged like that.

Efforts to break the blockade
The institutions and activities of the Jericho governorate are trying their best to break the Israeli blockade on the governorate. The governor of Jericho and the Jordan Valley, Jihad Abu al-Assal, confirms that the government is making great efforts, and it is necessary to open up to international bodies and human rights institutions to inform them of the collective punishment imposed by Israel.

Abu Al-Assal says: "Israel besieged Jericho for security reasons, but that is not true, especially since the occupation can storm without deterrence and when it wants and arrest whoever it wants!" while indicating that it will organize protests in front of international institutions in order to break the siege on Jericho.

The head of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Jericho and the Jordan Valley, Tayseer Al-Hamidi, confirms that the activities and institutions of Jericho fell into a meeting in which they discussed how to break the Israeli siege on Jericho. economic sanctions on the province.

Al-Hamidi called on the Palestinian people to visit Jericho and break the siege on it, and not to achieve the occupation's goals by hitting Jericho economically.

For his part, the Director General of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, Iyad Hamdan, confirms that the ministry made an appeal to break the Israeli siege on Jericho by the need to visit it, and this applies to all Palestinian cities, in order to compensate for what Jericho lost in terms of losses to tourists or damage to the tourism sector. .

The population of Jericho and the Jordan Valley is 60,000, including 25,000 who live in the city of Jericho alone. Jericho includes important historical places, and it is one of the oldest cities in history. Seven thousand years BC.