The Palestinian Economy. Theoretical and Practical Challenges

Proceedings “The Palestinian Economy: Theoretical and Practical Challenges” 319
associated coefficient measures the impact of the within-year variation of the intensity of
the conflict on child’s status. X ij is a vector of control variables that account for individual
(i) and household (j) characteristics.
3.1. Number of closure days and the evolution of the labour market
in West Bank
During closure days, the borders between the Palestinian Territories and Israel are closed
and the movement of workers and goods between the two is forbidden. Our data on the
number of closure days comes for the Ministry of Labour of the Palestinian Authority. In
our analysis we use the quarterly number of effective closure days which is given by the
number of comprehensive closure days in the quarter minus the number of Saturdays, half
the number of Fridays 5 and the number of days of Jewish and Muslim holidays. Figure 1
shows the number of effective closure days imposed by Israel on the West Bank in each
quarter between September 2000 and the end of 2006. Since the beginning of the Second
Intifada, the number of closures days – while characterized by a long-term tendency to
decrease – has fluctuated with a rather high variance during the period under
consideration.
5 Labour and commercial flows are at about half their normal workday level on Fridays.