Bethlehem’s traditional key industries have particularly been weakened and are continuously being subverted by encroaching Israeli control, while traditional markets for products and services have been interrupted or excised completely. Palestinians are increasingly finding themselves unemployed and/or unable to afford the high living costs in Bethlehem and are left with little to no choice than engaging in economic activities that culminate in coercion, depoliticization, and deepened economic inequality—ultimately translating in an overarching prioritization of desperate economic concerns over political concerns. Israel’s mechanism for undermining Bethlehem’s key traditional industries, namely agriculture and stone quarrying, materializes in two complementary ways: loss of control over the physical space and obstructing industry operations. As Israel’s policies of segregation, fragmentation and isolation become more pervasive, these industries become increasingly untenable for the majority of Palestinians. The increasing isolation that ensues, makes Palestinian industries in Bethlehem ever more beholden to Israeli control, allowing Israel to dictate which industries will survive and to what extent. In turn, this has a two-fold impact of coercing more Palestinians into insecure and unstable employment in tourism or the Israeli labor market, while at the same time, Israel privileges particular businesses and business owners for its own benefit, driving up income inequality. Undermining traditional key industries and consequent dependence on Israeli markets Israel’s relentless colonization and annexation of land has decimated Bethlehem’s agricultural sector. With more than 45 colonies and outposts, and 83.9 percent of the governorate’s agricultural land zoned as Area C,241 much of the land has been rendered inaccessible to Palestinian farmers. As a result, in 2018, the Bethlehem governorate reported the highest rate (26 percent) of households suffering movement restrictions in accessing and cultivating their land.242 The subsequent escalation in Israel’s policies of fragmentation and isolation, particularly as evident in its control and exploitation of the transportation infrastructure, has only compounded an already difficult situation. With the critical market of Jerusalem rendered inaccessible, and 241 See Figure 1, in ARIJ, A Review of the Palestinian Agricultural Sector, (Bethlehem: ARIJ, 2007), 14, available at: http://www.arij.org/files/admin/2007-2_Geopolitical_Status_of_Bethlehem_Governorate.pdf 242 PCBS, “Statistics Table 30: Percentage of Households that Faced Restrictions on the Movement of their Members by Region, Governorate and Area of Movement During the First Half of 2018,” in “Survey of Social and Economic Conditions” [Arabic], 2019, 79, available at: www.pcbs.gov.ps/Downloads/ book2431.pdf 67