West Bank).275 On the other hand, it is driven by a powerlessness and apathy that results from growing disparity between rich and poor. This leads to a sense of pragmatism wherein individuals accept cooperation with Israelis as the only accessible and practical way to make a living, a reality reflected in stone quarrying, tourism, and employment in the Israeli labor market. With 70 percent of the stone quarry industry dependent on the Israeli market, for businesses to remain profitable they must conform to the demands of Israel and necessarily limit their political expression and resistance. When asked where the stones go, the workers shrug a weary shoulder. “The business of stone cutting gives people here what they need to survive,” says Mr. Takatka. This is the usual response given by these workers, who have no choice but to continue quarrying their own stones that go towards expanding and developing the very same occupation that forces them to work in such conditions in the first place.276 Likewise, in tourism, most businesses and individuals are dependent on Israel and Israeli companies for their access and income. This leads to and compounds the silencing of Palestinian voices and the erasure of the Palestinian narrative, with Israeli cooperation dependent on engagement in a particular discourse, and abstention from particular activities. As expressed by Saeed Al Taamari, a tour guide from Bethlehem, “Many tourists come here and they call it Israel. They think they are still in Israel. The Israeli tour guides are like the teachers who feed them information.”277 The depoliticization effect is even more directly observed in those engaging in the Israeli labor market. The strict requirements around security clearances for permits directly constrains and silences Palestinian political resilience. With 13 percent of Bethlehem work permits denied in 2016-17, and less than half granted,278 employees do not risk their likelihood of obtaining a permit by engaging in any political and/or resistance efforts. 275 PCBS, “Statistics Table 26: 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 supra 245, 75. 276 Ilene Prusher, “Palestinians Stones Cut Both Ways,” Christian Science Monitor, 4 January 2000, available at: https://www.csmonitor.com/2000/0104/p6s1.html [accessed 28 February 2020]. 277 Orlando Crowcroft, “Bethlehem Left Out in the Cold as Tourists Refuse to Stay,” National, 24 May 2014, available at: https://www.thenational.ae/business/bethlehem-left-out-in-the-cold-as-touristsrefuse-to-stay-1.248877 [accessed 28 February 2020]. 278 See Nasser Al-Qadi, supra 262. 73