By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Turkish products account for 50-60% of local consumption in Palestine, a Palestinian businessman said on Monday.
“The Turkish products are significantly present in Palestine,” Mohammed Johar told Anadolu.
“Between 50-60% of the produce on the Palestinian table are Turkish,” he added.
Johar, whose family owns the Philadelphia Company, heads the Palestinian-Turkish Friendship Association, a group of Palestinian businessmen with commercial ties to Turkish factories and companies.
He imports kitchen equipment for restaurants, hospitals, and hotels from Türkiye, as well as other materials used in the construction sector.
The Palestinian entrepreneur said companies attach great importance to Turkish products due to social reasons, shared history, and common interests.
"The Turkish government supports this trend and aligns with the popular sentiment in Türkiye to sustain the relationship,” he added.
- Customs barrier
Johar said the volume of investment and imports by businessmen affiliated with the Palestinian-Turkish Friendship Association is estimated at $60 million annually.
He noted that Palestinians, holding Israeli citizenship, import Turkish goods and sell a portion of them in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Johar explained that Palestine is classified within the Israeli customs barrier, which shows Palestinian imports from Türkiye as if they were sold to Israel.
"When we import from Türkiye, we are required to fill out a form specifying Israel as the destination instead of Palestine. Failure to do so results in a fine of 12% of the value of the goods imposed by Israel," he added.
“This makes the volume of Palestinian imports from Türkiye unrealistic, and they are recorded as if they were sold to Israel, especially since there are Palestinian companies in Jerusalem classified as Israeli companies."
Israel does not recognize the relations established by Palestine with other countries, and Turkish goods are routed to Palestine through Israeli Customs. Therefore, trade laws require the exporter to write Israel as his location or the transit country.
Moreover, 96.5% of goods sent from Türkiye to Palestine pass through the Mediterranean Sea via the ports of Haifa and Ashdod, and from there to companies in the West Bank and Gaza, according to data from the Turkish Ministry of Trade.
The data indicated a 33% decline in trade volume between Türkiye and Israel since Tel Aviv launched its devastating war on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023.
- Falling trade
Current trade between Türkiye and Israel, according to the data, does not occur through government companies, but rather through private firms, especially international ones.
Politically, Türkiye supports the Palestinian cause and has sent around 7,400 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza. It also provides medical care for sick and wounded Palestinians, especially cancer patients.
As efforts persist to establish a field hospital in Gaza, and given the severity of the humanitarian situation there, Türkiye has donated $1 million to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) this year. Some $10 million were donated last year.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack early last October by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed around 1,200 people.
Nearly 33,207 Palestinians have since been killed and almost 75,933 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which recently asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul