As we know, the Palestinian Authority has decided not to accept the tax money that Israel collects on its behalf because of Israel's decision to deduct from that money a sum equivalent to what the PA pays imprisoned terrorists and the families of Palestinians killed in clashes with Israel. This decision has caused the PA to make budget cuts wherever possible, one of which – as reported by the Calcalist business newspaper – is paying Israeli hospitals that treat Palestinian patients.
So the PA will be taking its sick and injured to hospitals in the West Bank, keeping Israeli hospitals from the income they would earn by treating Palestinians. In 2018, the PA paid Israeli hospitals a total of 272 million shekels ($77 million). The main victim of the loss of income from the PA is Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, which in 2018 earned nearly 200 million shekels ($57 million) from Palestinian patients. When the loss of income is added to the other monetary problems that Israel's hospitals are facing, it could turn into a serious financial crisis.
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There is no resemblance between the Israeli economy and the economy of the independent Palestinian government. The gap in per capita GDP, between Israeli exports to the PA and their exports to Israel, is enormous. An Israeli economic crisis would have immediate ramifications on the Palestinian economy, whereas a Palestinian crisis would cause only very minor damage to Israel. But it seems that in certain very specific sectors, Israel has also become dependent on the Palestinians.
The most obvious dependency is seen in Jerusalem. On the recent Eid al-Adha holiday, there were almost no drivers on public transportation. Hospitals use Palestinian staff for everything from administration to work in the kitchens. Hospitals are full of Palestinian employees, and their absence means that a major part of the work doesn't get done. Now it seems that Palestinian hospitals are also a major branch of the economy, which could bring down medical centers that are important, and even vital, to Israel.
It was actually the people who want peace with the Palestinians who invented the nonsensical phrase "We're here, and they're there," to make territorial concessions more palatable to the public and ensure that Israel would have an eastern border that would guarantee a Jewish, democratic country to its west. Fifty-two years have passed since the Six-Day War, and the two populations are intertwined. The future of Hadassah depends on Palestinian export duties, the West Bank cannot continue to exist without Israeli foodstuffs, and we cannot manage without the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who work in Israel.
There is no solution that will ensure the future of the Jewish state (and all of its citizens) that also skirts the need for a border, and it's quite clear where that border should lie. But it won't separate two peoples; it will allow two states to live alongside each other.
