2023年经济学人 以色列的经济武器(1)（在线收听）

    Finance and economics

    财经版块

    War by other means

    使用另一种手段的战争

    In its fight against Hamas, Israel uses economic weapons as well as military ones.

    在打击哈马斯的战斗中，以色列不仅使用军事武器，还使用经济武器。

    In less than a fortnight, some 3,500 Gazans have been killed, 12,000 injured and more than a million displaced—on whose behalf America and the UN are attempting to open a passage into Egypt.

    在不到两周的时间里，大约3500名加沙人被杀，12000人受伤，100多万人流离失所--美国和联合国正尝试为加沙人民开辟一条进入埃及的通道。

    Entire neighbourhoods in the strip have been bombed to dust.

    加沙地带的所有居民区都被炮弹夷为平地。

    Cut off from food, water and medical supplies, the UN warned on October 16th that Gaza’s 2.3m people were on “the verge of an abyss”.

    由于食物、水和医疗用品供应被切断，联合国在10月16日警告说，加沙的230万人民正处于“深渊的边缘”。

    Since Israel’s strikes began, war has drained nearly every source of economic life from the territory.

    自以色列发动空袭以来，战争几乎耗尽了该地区所有的经济来源。

    For the better part of two decades, Gaza has relied on support from international donors for its financial survival.

    过去二十年来，加沙的经济生存方面主要依赖国际捐助者的支持。

    On October 18th Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said that his country would allow a modest amount of food and medicine across Egypt’s border into the territory, which would be the first supplies let in since Hamas launched its brutal attack against Israel on October 7th.

    10月18日，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡表示，以色列将允许少量食品和药品通过埃及边境进入加沙，这将是自10月7日哈马斯武装分子对以色列发动残酷攻击以来进入加沙的第一批物资。

    Israel’s allies, including America, are pushing for more to be admitted.

    以色列的众多盟友，包括美国，正在促使更多物资被输送入境。

    Yet at the same time, Israel wants to suffocate Hamas by any means possible, which requires using economic as well as military weapons.

    然而与此同时，以色列想用一切可能的手段铲除哈马斯，这不仅需要军事武器，也需要经济武器。

    Averting a humanitarian catastrophe is made all the more difficult by the miserable pre-war state of the Palestinian economy.

    由于巴勒斯坦惨淡的战前经济形势，避免人道主义灾难发生变得更加困难。

    Israel, Gaza and the West Bank share a single market, governed by a deal that the UN brokered in 1994.

    以色列、加沙和约旦河西岸共享一个单一市场，根据联合国在1994年促成的一项协议进行管理。

    The idea behind the agreement was that Palestinians would work in Israel and that Israeli capital would flood into Gaza and the West Bank, where rich returns were waiting.

    该协议的愿景是，巴勒斯坦人将在以色列工作，以色列资本将涌入加沙和约旦河西岸，从而产生丰厚的收益。

    In reality, Israeli restrictions remained in place and the Palestinian economy still depends on handouts.

    但现实情况是，以色列的限制仍然存在，巴勒斯坦经济仍然依赖施舍。

    On the eve of the war, the average Israeli was 15 times richer than the average Palestinian.

    在战争前夕，以色列人的平均财富是巴勒斯坦人的15倍。

    Only a third of West Bankers have access to a sewage system; some 10% manage without a water supply.

    仅有三分之一的西岸居民有可用的下水道系统，大约10%的人在没有供水的情况下勉强生活。

    West Bankers have been allowed to work in low-skilled jobs in Israel, but have been subject to tight restrictions on their movement.

    西岸居民被允许在以色列从事低技能工作，但他们的行动受到严格的限制。

    In Gaza, things have been even worse.

    在加沙，情况更糟。

    Growth in GDP per person in the West Bank averaged 2.8% a year from 2007 to 2022.

    从2007年到2022年，西岸人均GDP平均每年增长2.8%。

    The average Gazan became poorer during the same period, with the local economy shrinking by 2.5% a year.

    在同一时期，加沙人的平均贫困程度加深，当地经济以每年2.5%的速度萎缩。

    The territory has operated under a near total blockade from Israel since Hamas took power in 2007.

    自2007年哈马斯掌权以来，加沙一直在以色列的完全封锁下运行。

    Until recently, it was supplied with electricity by Israel, but received only a third of the amount it sought.

    直到最近，加沙才得到了以色列的电力供应，但只得到了它所要求的电量的三分之一。

    Each of the three wars fought between the two sides—in 2008, 2014 and 2021—cost Gaza the equivalent of at least a year of GDP.

    双方在2008年、2014年和2021年进行的三场战争中，每一场都让加沙付出了至少相当于一年GDP的代价。

    If there is nothing for an economy to generate, it is not just growth that suffers.

    如果一个经济体无法生产任何东西，那么受损的不仅仅是增长率。

    Unemployment is rife.

    加沙地区的失业现象十分普遍。

    More than half of the Gazan adult population were living below the IMF’s poverty line in 2021.

    2021年，超过一半的加沙成年人口生活在国际货币基金组织设定的贫困线以下。

    There are few ways to make money.

    赚钱的方法很少。

    One way used to be dealing imports and exports through tunnels under Gaza’s southern border, but Egypt cleared out most after a bust-up with Hamas in 2014.

    曾经有一种方法是通过加沙南部边境的地下隧道进行进出口交易，但在2014年与哈马斯发生冲突后，埃及清理了大部分隧道。

    Another way is to rebuild what war destroys.

    另一种方法是重建战争的废墟。

    One of Gaza’s main businesses is construction, which grew by 20% last year.

    加沙的主要业务之一是建筑业，去年增长了20%。

    It will presumably grow by more once this round of war ends.

    这一轮战争结束后，这一数字还会继续增长。

    Others cobble together incomes from a range of outside sources.

    其他人则从各种外部来源东拼西凑成一些收入。

    Some 70,000 Gazans remain on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority (PA), even though its officials who run the West Bank were kicked out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007, and none of them actually goes to work.

    虽然管理约旦河西岸的巴勒斯坦民族权力机构的官员在2007年已被哈马斯赶出加沙，但仍有约7万加沙人为其在职员工，但没有一个人真正去上班。

    Qatar deposits cash—some $10m a month—into the bank accounts of thousands more locals.

    卡塔尔每月将约1000万美元的现金存入数千名当地人的银行账户。

    The PA pays Gaza’s electricity bills, which Israel subtracts from the tax it collects on behalf of the PA in the West Bank.

    巴勒斯坦民族权力机构支付加沙的电费，以色列则代表巴勒斯坦民族权力机构在西岸征收税款，并从税款中减去这笔费用。

    The UN educates 300,000 Gazan children; a network of hospitals it runs with charities provides the territory with basic health care.

    联合国为30万加沙儿童提供教育，联合国与慈善机构共同运营的医院网络为加沙提供基本的医疗保健。