The Merchants Committee in Occupied Jerusalem affirmed that Jerusalemite merchants are facing an Israeli racist policy and complete economic blockade.
Speaking to the PIC reporter the member of the Merchants Committee Ahmad Dandis said that Jerusalemites relied on the people of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in their various commercial operations.
However the Israeli apartheid wall restricted this active commercial movement.
Dandis stated that Jerusalemite merchants are now relying on Palestinians within the Green Line to keep their commercial operations active and strengthen the Palestinian link to the Aqsa Mosque.
&ldquoThe ultimate goal of strengthening the commercial operations is to strengthen the Palestinian presence and commercial movement in Jerusalem and its Old City and to foil all Israeli attempts to evacuate the Aqsa Mosque.&rdquo
Recently the Aqsa Association and the Muslimat Foundation finalized the activities of the Jerusalem Shopping Festival which was organized in support of the people of Jerusalem.
Dandis called for intensifying the Palestinian popular and civil activities in support of the merchants of Jerusalem and not be limited to festivals and economic events.
He further stressed the importance of confronting the Jewish settler raids during Jewish holidays which are accompanied by physical assaults on Jerusalemites and their property mainly their commercial shops.
He also pointed to the heavy taxes imposed on Jerusalemite traders including the general &ldquoArnona&rdquo property tax.
“This tax is imposed on property owners. Traders have to pay 370 shekels on one meter of commercial store while owners of 100-meter shops are forced to pay 37000 shekels per year.”
Such taxes have deeply harmed the economies of the Old City and Occupied Jerusalem he added.
365 out of 1400 commercial stores in the Old City were forced to shut down due to the tight Israeli restrictions Dandis continued.
Dandis called for mass mobilization in support of the people of Jerusalem in face of the Israeli Judaization plans.
