RAMALLAH, West Bank After working for years to build a viable economy in the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians Saturday charged Israel was targeting their infant economy. Palestinian Authority (PA) Minister of Economy and Trade Maher Masri told a press conference in Ramallah that Israel "has a systematic policy" to keep the Palestinian economy under its control. Masri estimated losses to the Palestinian economy after more than six months of unrest in the West Bank and Gaza at over 2 billion dollars and said unemployment was over 50 percent of the workforce. "The economic situation is worse today than in the last several months," said Masri in reference to Israeli measures restricting movement of people and goods in the Palestinian areas and to daily shelling of Palestinian cities. He said Israel was still withholding millions of dollars it has collected on behalf of the PA in taxes and customs duties on goods destined to pa-controlled areas. The European Union and the U.S. have called on Israel to release these funds, which make up more than 60 percent of PA revenues, but hardline Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon said he will not release the funds. After a delay of several months, the PA on Wednesday approved the year 2001 budget calling it "an emergency budget" due to Israeli economic sanctions. The budget shows a deficit of more than 500,000 dollars and rising as the sanctions continue. Masri said Israel was not allowing free export or import of goods and holds products at its ports for long periods of time. Speaking at the same press conference, Palestinian businessmen stressed that while Israel has delivered a hard blow to the emerging Palestinian economy, it nevertheless was not going to collapse. Samir Huleileh, whose Bethlehem-based stone company used to sell over 10 million dollars of products to Israel every year before the latter imposed economic sanctions, said the economy will not collapse because Palestinian businessmen have adjusted themselves to the new situation. "We have drawn up a mechanism in which we assume that the Intifada (uprising) will continue for several years, not months," he said. Huleileh said Israel was using the Palestinian economy as a hostage in order to pressure the PA to put an end to the Intifada, but this would not work "because our decision is that Israel should end its occupation first because the occupation is the source of unrest and instability. Our interest is in seeing an end to the occupation, not sustaining it." "Israel will not deter us," said Zahi Khouri, chairman of the board of Palestine's only cellular telephone company and a major investor. "We are starting to tighten our belts." Businessman mazen sinokrut, whose family runs a successful canned food factory, said Israel was not happy to see the Palestinian economy show growth over the past two years and therefore "has decided to destroy it". "Israel always sought to keep our economy under its control," said Masri. "And in the last month, it has escalated its heavy shelling of factories and destruction of land and farms" in the West Bank and Gaza. (DPA)