{"version":"1.9","identifier":"74dd704d-be28-416c-b21d-f0d2e884fda2","language":"en-US","title":"Abbas opens first Palestinian cement plant in Jericho as Israeli analyst warns of tunnel risk","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://567politics.com/news/palestine-jericho-cement-plant-abbas-pif-paris-protocol-security-concerns-november-2026","datePublished":"2026-11-03T20:28:45.783982Z","dateModified":"2026-11-03T20:29:14.354692Z","authors":["Patrick Karsh"],"excerpt":"Palestinian officials say the Jericho plant will cut cement imports and supply Gaza's rebuilding. An Israeli analyst warns unmonitored cement is a security risk.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/74dd704d-be28-416c-b21d-f0d2e884fda2/e9b0cfb27935e826e13171f77112b150.jpg","keywords":["ps"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Abbas opens first Palestinian cement plant in Jericho as Israeli analyst warns of tunnel risk","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Palestinian officials say the Jericho plant will cut cement imports and supply Gaza's rebuilding. An Israeli analyst warns unmonitored cement is a security risk.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By Patrick Karsh · Published November 3, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/74dd704d-be28-416c-b21d-f0d2e884fda2/e9b0cfb27935e826e13171f77112b150.jpg","caption":"A view over Jericho in the West Bank, where the new cement plant opened. · Janusz J. / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)","accessibilityCaption":"A view over Jericho in the West Bank, where the new cement plant opened.","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"A view over Jericho in the West Bank, where the new cement plant opened. · Janusz J. / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday inaugurated what officials called the first Palestinian cement factory, in the West Bank city of Jericho. Palestinian leaders presented the plant as a step toward producing a key building material at home and supplying the future rebuilding of Gaza. On Tuesday, an Israeli analyst told The Jerusalem Post that cement made without Israeli oversight could pose a security risk, citing the tunnels Hamas built in Gaza.\n\nThe plant was developed by the Palestine Investment Fund (PIF), the Palestinian Authority's sovereign investment body, with the Issa Khoury Group for Mining and Construction Industries. According to the PIF, it has an annual capacity of about 1.13 million tons and is expected to cover about half of Palestinian demand for cement.\n\nThis story sets out what is known about the plant, the trade rules that have shaped the Palestinian cement market, and the positions of Palestinian officials and Israeli critics in their own words. It follows recent 567 Politics reporting on [the West Bank in October](https://567politics.com/news/palestine-west-bank-october-incidents-pa-commission-3133-ocha-olive-harvest-november-2026) and on [the Israeli withdrawal from Hebron](https://567politics.com/news/palestine-hebron-israeli-withdrawal-displaced-return-pa-security-november-2026).\n\n## The opening in Jericho\n\nThe official Palestinian news agency [WAFA reported](https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/176566) that the ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, PIF chairman Iyad Joudeh, Issa Khoury Group chairman Issa Khoury and \"a large number of businesspeople, officials and economists.\"\n\nMustafa delivered a speech on Abbas's behalf. He described the project as \"a significant step toward producing one of the key commodities in the national economy,\" WAFA said. He said the factory \"marks an important milestone in developing Palestinian industry, particularly the construction materials sector,\" which he said employs a large number of workers.\n\nMustafa also tied the plant to Gaza. He stressed its importance \"in light of the anticipated demand for construction materials in the coming period to rebuild the Gaza Strip and restore what was destroyed by the Israeli offensive,\" according to WAFA.\n\nHe said the rebuilding of Gaza is meant to be \"a starting point for restoring unity between the two parts of the homeland.\" He said it should bring \"a dignified life and hope back to Palestinians in Gaza\" and strengthen \"their ability to remain and stand firm on their land.\"\n\n## What the plant is and what it cost\n\nThe PIF's own account of the opening was published by the Palestinian news site [Raya](https://www.raya.ps/news/1228120.html). It said the investment in the project totals about $115 million. It said the site covers about 240 dunams, or roughly 24 hectares. It described the plant as one of the largest industrial investments in Palestine.\n\nThe statement said the plant would help \"reduce dependence on importing cement,\" which it called one of the basic goods linked to construction, housing and infrastructure. It said the Arab Bank provided a loan to help finance the project.\n\nIn the speech read by Mustafa, Abbas said the project was a model of partnership between the Ministry of Industry, the PIF and the private sector. He said it brings together Palestinian capital \"in the homeland, inside and in the diaspora,\" according to the statement. Joudeh noted that the project began while Mustafa chaired the fund's board.\n\nJoudeh said the opening showed \"the role of strategic investment in building a productive Palestinian economy.\" He said the fund's role \"goes beyond deploying capital to investing in strategic sectors\" that create jobs and strengthen the private sector.\n\nKhoury thanked Abbas, Mustafa and the fund. \"We believed in the importance of this investment from its beginnings, and we continued working to achieve it despite the economic challenges and difficult conditions,\" he said, according to the statement.\n\nThe trade publication [Global Cement](https://www.globalcement.com/news/21444-president-abbas-inaugurates-first-palestinian-clinker-grinding-plant) described the facility as a clinker grinding plant. Clinker is the semi-finished product that is ground to make cement. Global Cement said clinker for the plant \"is likely to be sourced from nearby Jordanian factories.\"\n\nThe publication said the plant uses technology first supplied by FLSmidth of Denmark, now Fuller Technologies, and includes a vertical roller mill. It said development began in 2022 and that the plant had been due to start work by the end of 2025. It said static and structural equipment came from a firm called GEPCO, and that the plant is expected to employ up to 100 workers.\n\nReports differ on some details. Global Cement put the cost at about $85 million, citing the PIF, while the PIF statement carried by Raya gave about $115 million. The Jerusalem Post said the operating company, Jericho Cement Industry Company, is a joint venture of the Palestinian firm Sanad and the Jordanian firm Unifive. It said the company had claimed capacity of 1.3 million tons a year and would employ 100 workers to start. That capacity figure is higher than the 1.13 million tons given by the PIF and Global Cement. 567 Politics could not reconcile these figures. The fund's project website could not be opened from our tools.\n\n## Cement and the Paris Protocol\n\nThe plant comes under trade rules set more than three decades ago. The 1994 [Protocol on Economic Relations](https://unctad.org/system/files/information-document/ParisProtocol_en.pdf), known as the Paris Protocol, governs trade between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.\n\nUnder Article III, the Palestinian Authority may import goods on a list called A1 from Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries \"in quantities agreed upon by the two sides up to the Palestinian market needs.\" The protocol also set up a Joint Economic Committee of the two sides to oversee it.\n\nThe Jerusalem Post reported that cement is on List A1 and that imports of it from Arab neighbors are capped at 400,000 metric tons. It said this had left Palestinian buyers largely reliant on private Israeli companies for cement. The appendix that lists the goods and quantities is not part of the protocol text published by UNCTAD, and 567 Politics could not check the cap against it.\n\n## An Israeli analyst warns of a security risk\n\nThe Post's report, published on Tuesday, quoted Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch. He directs the Initiative for Palestinian Authority Accountability and Reform at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a policy institute, and is a senior legal analyst at Human Rights Voices.\n\nHirsch warned that unchecked and unmonitored cement production could pose a significant security risk to Israel, the paper said. The main concern it described is that the cement could be used to build underground tunnels like those Hamas dug in Gaza.\n\n\"We have a limited amount of intelligence coverage and almost no supervisory jurisdiction. Palestinians can essentially do whatever they want,\" Hirsch said. \"Whether that constitutes a breach of the Oslo Accords is an entirely different question, because the Palestinians do not see themselves as bound by those agreements.\"\n\n\"I do believe that the PA poses a constant threat to Israel,\" he said. \"I don't think it has any peaceful intentions whatsoever, and I see very little chance of any positive change there. Anything that can improve its capabilities is therefore a source of concern.\"\n\nHe described the plant as a \"dual-use\" industry. \"An ostensibly innocent industry that could be very profitable, but can also be used for very nefarious purposes. That always has to be the assumption with the PA,\" he said. The Post said he also raised concerns about who would profit from the plant, citing corruption in the Palestinian Authority. He also questioned whether the cement would be exported. He noted that most West Bank exports go to Israel and argued that Israeli purchases would not stop the authority from pressing other countries to sanction Israel.\n\n## What the Oslo accords allow\n\nThe Post also quoted Arie Reich, a law professor and vice rector at Bar-Ilan University. He said the factory sits in Area A, where civil powers belong to the Palestinian Authority under the 1995 Oslo II accord.\n\nBecause the authority issued the permits, Reich said, \"Israel has no say here as long as the cement does not pose a security risk.\" He said the situation would differ if the cement were sent to Gaza, where it is treated as a dual-use material and only limited amounts are allowed.\n\nHe said things would also change if Israel had evidence that cement in the West Bank was being used for attacks. In that case, he said, a security clause in Oslo II \"requires both sides to cooperate in exchanging information and coordinating their activities against terrorism and violence.\"\n\n\"If Israel had credible evidence linking particular Jericho cement shipments to an attack tunnel, for instance, it could invoke that duty to seek a Palestinian investigation, identification of the buyers and end users, and action to stop further diversion,\" Reich said. \"In the absence of such, Israel is likely to take unilateral measures to prevent the security risk.\"\n\nA spokesperson for the Joint Economic Committee confirmed to the Post that there had been no coordination between the two sides on the plant.\n\n## Responses and open questions\n\n567 Politics found no response from the Palestinian Authority or the PIF to the security concerns raised in the Post. The Israeli government had not commented publicly on the plant as of Tuesday afternoon Eastern time.\n\nSeveral points remain unclear. The cost and capacity figures differ between sources. It is not known how much clinker the plant will import from Jordan, or how those imports will be counted under the Paris Protocol. It is also not known whether any of its cement would reach Gaza, where Israel limits building materials. Our earlier reporting on [Gaza's fourth winter in tents](https://567politics.com/news/palestine-gaza-fourth-winter-tents-mladenov-israel-shelter-restrictions-november-2026) describes those limits on shelter and rebuilding.\n\nPlans for rebuilding Gaza also remain stalled while Israel, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and the US-led Board of Peace disagree on who governs the territory, as described in our report on [Gaza's governance gap](https://567politics.com/news/palestine-gaza-police-strike-hamas-governance-ncag-stalled-november-2026). Our [methodology page](https://567politics.com/methodology) explains how we report figures that differ between sources.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}