Why do the Palestinians want to get rid of the "Shekel Mountain"?

One of the big problems for Palestinian traders is the large cash surplus of shekels generated in the local market. According to estimates, it is currently at least NIS 6 billion that the Palestinians claim the Bank of Israel has so far refused to accept and to transfer dollars for in exchange.

The surplus of shekels in cash was created as a result of three main factors: The wages of Palestinian workers in the Israeli market (about 1.3 billion NIS a month), trade with Israel, and the purchases made by Israeli Arabs in the PA.

As a result of the Israeli refusal to accept the shekels from the Palestinians, merchants are "stuck" with shekels because the Palestinian banks limit the deposit value in Israeli currency. Thus, the ability of merchants to import goods from abroad (in dollars) is small. Also, Palestinians who want to transfer money abroad for other purposes have difficulty doing so.

This "shekel mountain" encourages calls from Palestinian economy leaders to switch to electronic payment, although the fee charged by business owners is still high.