JERUSALEM, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A new network of crossing points for Palestinian goods, built into Israel's barrier in and around the occupied West Bank, may hurt exports, not facilitate them as Israel claims, the World Bank said on Monday.
Israel will require all Palestinian commercial traffic to move through these crossing points once the barrier, made up of concrete walls and wire fences, is completed, the international lending agency said in a report.
Contrary to Israeli assertions that the crossings will allow the Israeli army to ease the movement of people and goods within the West Bank, the World Bank said internal restrictions have only increased and the new system has the potential to become "another serious constraint to Palestinian businesses".
David Craig, the World Bank's director in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, said Palestinian economic growth hinged on the private sector being able to boost exports. "The new restrictions ... undermine this goal," he said.
Israel says its West Bank barrier, condemned by a 2004 World Court ruling as illegal, is meant to keep out suicide bombers.
Palestinians call it collective punishment and a land grab that denies them territory that they want for a future state.
At the new crossing points, trucks on the Palestinian side transfer their goods to trucks on the Israeli side, back-to-back. Israel uses a similar system along its border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which faces severe shortages of many goods because of an Israeli-led blockade.
The World Bank said the back-to-back system would create added delays and uncertainties for Palestinian businesses already hamstrung by Israel's network of hundreds of checkpoints, roadblocks and other barriers in the West Bank.
Israel said it was committed to expanding the new facilities as necessary to ensure there are no queues and that all vehicles move through the crossing points within 30 to 60 minutes.
Limited Palestinian exports from the West Bank mostly travel through Israeli ports to destinations abroad. Israel does not allow exports from the Gaza Strip, citing Hamas control on the Palestinian side of the crossing points.
"As long as the internal barriers exist and exports and imports are forced to go through a system of back-to-back transfer, the Palestinian private sector is unlikely to prosper," the World Bank said.
An increasingly attractive alternative to Israeli ports would be Palestinian exports through Jordan, including the sea port of Aqaba, the report said.
But that would require Israel to make changes at the Allenby Bridge crossing point in the Jordan Valley to accommodate more shipments, the World Bank said. (Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Sami Aboudi)