Business

A Palestinian woman arranges hand-rolled cigarettes for sale, at her house in the West Bank village of Ya'abad near Jenin June 15, 2013. Palestinian farmers sow tobacco sprouts in the rocky earth of the northern West Bank, reaping a harvest of economic success rare in the struggling occupied territory. From planting, drying and rolling, the local cottage industry has put dozens of whole families to work and has defied high levels of unemployment ... more 

A Palestinian woman arranges hand-rolled cigarettes for sale, at her house in the West Bank village of Ya'abad near Jenin June 15, 2013. Palestinian farmers sow tobacco sprouts in the rocky earth of the northern West Bank, reaping a harvest of economic success rare in the struggling occupied territory. From planting, drying and rolling, the local cottage industry has put dozens of whole families to work and has defied high levels of unemployment and poverty. But pressures on their business are growing. Tobacco production and other parts of the rural economy, which have long eluded formal government regulation, are coming under the radar of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as it seeks to to bolster its revenues and alleviate a massive debt burden. Picture taken June 15, 2013. To match Feature PALESTINIANS/TOBACCO/ REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: BUSINESS AGRICULTURE) less