The stone industry in Palestine .. Benefits for people and harm to the environment

Awad Al-Rajoub-Hebron

In the north-west of the town of Tapuah (south of the West Bank), a series of high mountains stretches through the valley, where mountains are crowded with heavy traffic and heavy machinery. Here the earth is changed in search of hard currency.

Since 1990, there has been a significant shift in the lives of the Palestinian population in the town west of Hebron, after the discovery of rare types of yellow rocks that can be used to extract the building stone. Since then, land prices have increased significantly.

Gradually, the number of quarries (quarries) in the town increased to reach 45 facilities that provide direct and indirect employment opportunities for hundreds of residents and contribute to the introduction of hard currency into the country, but the number has declined by several factors to 21 facilities now, including stone saws, Rock after uprooting.

Renaissance and price
The land prices rose from a few hundred dollars before the discovery of the stone to hundreds of thousands of dollars per dunam, as well as the development of the town and the operation of workers in quarries and maintenance of equipment and others, said Hassan al-Tarda, a resident of the town and a quarry worker.

He pointed out that the rare yellow stone found in the town reached the world markets in seventy countries, especially the United States of America and the Gulf States and a number of Arab countries, and it has a significant return of economic output.

The sector is still the most important industrial sector in terms of its contribution to GDP and job creation. The latest official data indicate that the exports of this sector amounted to about 214 million dollars (equivalent to 20% of the total exports) in 2017, most of which goes to the Israeli market with a share Estimated at 75%.

The Federation of Stone Industry estimates the number of current employees in this sector at about 20,000, distributed to about 1,200 establishments in the West Bank cities and villages, while two workers in this field estimate profits of more than one million shekels (about 350 thousand dollars) per dunam.

Primitive ways
The Palestinians face serious challenges in uncovering the stone. Relying on primitive roads continues to force them to dig several meters underground at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the loss would be overwhelming if the discovered stone fails.

Al-Hajar seeks to develop the stone detection mechanism according to its head engineer Maher Hashish. Therefore, an academic body was established, the "Stone and Marble Center" at the Polytechnic University of Palestine in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy to develop stone and marble industry and rehabilitate its employees.

The Center is awarded the Diploma of Management and Technology of Marble Stone and provides a laboratory for testing the specifications through the geophysical examination unit.
The President of the Union focuses on other challenges, the most important of which are the conditions of external competition and free trade, pointing to the increase in the cost of production from labor, energy and others compared with countries in the world such as Egypt, India and Turkey.

Hashish points to the occupation of the crossings as an obstacle to freedom of movement and the prevention of work in designated areas (c) where most areas with high reserves of natural rocks suitable for opening quarries.

Damages and procedures
The head of the Stone Union talked about an official approach to protect the sector by reducing the cost of production, especially the energy sector, enacting laws to protect the local stone against the importer, improving infrastructure and water supply.

And talked about the direction of the work of a geological study helps to provide indicators on the availability of stone and its quantities in several areas, which contributes to reducing time and effort and save money.

As a result of the occupation of most of the uninhabited lands, the population is forced to search for stone in places close to housing and under the control of the Palestinian Authority (classified according to Oslo Agreement), which has negative effects on agriculture and population. And a white spot covered with dust.

The mayor of Tafouh Mahmud Arzayqat says that the town has set regulations to regulate the work of this industry and minimize its damage to it by specifying the areas and conditions for extracting the stone.

He explains that although the number of quarries in the town has been reduced from 45 to 21, and the stone quarrying area is 413 dunums, it has affected more than 1,000 dunums, some of which are no longer suitable for agriculture.