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The Israeli-Palestinian Business Forum is pleased to introduce the Guide to Investment, Trade and Cross-Border Business between Israel and Palestine.  Its aim is to provide both Israeli and Palestinian small and medium-sized enterprises and international investors with practical information on how to conduct and manage bilateral commerce between the two nations.  It is with a great sense of pride and hope that we present this guide.

In the past few years numerous business guides have been produced with the expressed aim of promoting investment in either Israel or Palestine.  Many of these documents are well-written and insightful, and they are cited throughout this guide.  In fact, so as not to replicate what has already been written, a large portion of our guide serves as an overview of relevant information from other sources.  We employ a user-friendly system of referencing in which we introduce a variety of topics and explain where you, the reader, can find further details about the issues important to your business.  As such, the uniqueness of this particular guide lies in two distinct features: first, it directly provides its readers with information on how to conduct joint business ventures between Israel and Palestine; and second, it is the first guide to devote considerable attention to details concerning the movement and access of goods and people across and within the Palestinian territories.  The need for this latter feature stems from the fact that Palestinian business people have repeatedly testified that one of the primary problems they face in doing business concerns issues of movement and access.  In response, chapter 5 of this guide outlines information, compiled from a host of government and private sources, on matters including permits and work visas needed to enter Israel, procedures for importing and exporting and relevant contact information by industry, and details on commercial crossing points.  We hope that the information in this chapter will serve as the hallmark of this guide, helping to prepare businesses to navigate the complex and often unpredictable nature of movement across and inside the Palestinian territories.

On that note, this is perhaps the appropriate place to explain one important aspect about the scope of this guide.  The information we provide about the Palestinian territories is primarily restricted to the West Bank.  Some of the data we cite covers both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and we recognize that both places have shared much of the same recent history – economic and otherwise.  However, current political and economic realities dictate that doing business or investing in the Gaza Strip is next to impossible, and we have therefore chosen to limit our information to the West Bank.

The remaining chapters of this guide summarize important information gathered from a variety of primary and secondary sources.  Each topic is described as it relates to both Israel and Palestine.  Accordingly, chapters 1 and 2 offer background information on both economies, including a general overview of physical features like geography and natural resources, and details on important economic sectors, respectively.  Chapter 3 outlines the local investment environment, summarizing information on available infrastructure and utilities, levels of education, and taxation systems, among other things.  In chapter 4 we review the complexities concurrent with international trade, and introduce the relevant fees, incentives, and required documents associated with both importing and exporting.  As already mentioned, chapter 5 is devoted to issues of movement and access between Israel and Palestine and within the Palestinian territories.  The business legal environment is discussed in chapter 6.  There you will find information on registration, arbitration, banking and insurance, and intellectual property rights.  Finally, in chapter 7 we outline the general steps necessary for starting a business in both Palestine and Israel.  

From the outset of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process it has been recognized that economic development in the Palestinian territories and Israeli-Palestinian economic cooperation are vital factors in strengthening peaceful relations between the two parties.  As the Israeli and Palestinian economies become more interdependent, individual relationships will be formed, prosperity promoted, and hope for a better life can spread on both sides of the border.  In this small strip of land, relatively lacking in valuable natural resources, Palestinian and Israeli leaders have had no choice but to invest in the one reliable resource they have in common – their people.  And they have.  To date Israel and Palestine are ranked 1^st and 2^nd in terms of regional levels of education, respectively.  At the same time, both economies face steep challenges: in Palestine, among other things, the movement of goods and people is severely restricted; while in Israel inflated defense and security budgets divert much needed resources from potentially more productive uses, such as public infrastructure, education, and clean and efficient energy.  As such, it is our strong belief that those companies and individuals, from abroad and locally, which chose to invest in cross-border commerce between Israel and Palestine are not only making a financial decision but also an investment in peace.  We hope that this guide can serve as a helpful resource in your decision to make that investment. 

The Israeli-Palestinian Business Forum's (IPBF) Guide to Investment, Trade and Cross-Border Business between Israel and Palestine is a project co-organized with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and supported by a grant from the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in Washington, D.C.  The IPBF extends its sincere gratitude to both CIPE and KAS for their technical and financial support for this business guide and in establishing the IPBF.  Their generous support made this guide possible.   

The IPBF would also like to acknowledge the various institutions upon whose published information we relied for the researching of this guide.  On the Palestinian side, we often referred to the investment guides produced by the Palestine Investment Conference (PIC) and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ).  We also utilize substantial information from the Palestinian Shippers' Council (PSC), the Palestine Trade Center (PALTRADE), the Palestine Investment Promotion Agency (PIPA), and the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy (MNE).  For information about Israel, we used a number of consistently helpful resources, including those generated by the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce (FICC), Israel's Investment Promotion Center (IPC), and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

دليل الاستثمار والتجارة والمشاريع عابرة الحدود بين إسرائيل وفلسطين

מדריך להשקעות, סחר ועסקים חוצי-גבולות בין ישראל לבין השטחים הפלסטיניים