Since then, the industrial park has stood up a lot better than the New Middle East, but with Arabs and Jews making war outside the fence, it's become a lot harder for them to make money inside. Many companies that had only administrative functions here relocated, like Coca-Cola, Tempo, and United Israel Laundries. Sbitany used to have 25 Jewish salespeople working out of Atarot, selling to Israeli retailers. Most Atarot employees commute by company van. The IDF's encirclement of Palestinian villages and cities, and its closure of Israel to Palestinians, has obviously placed tremendous obstacles for the bulk of Atarot's work force.
Some Palestinian employees have special passes to get through IDF checkpoints.
Others sneak past. One Atarot worker reportedly leaves his Hebron home at 3 a.m. and hike over the Hebron hills to get to work in the morning. Still others, from the West Bank, just stay home. Arab workers from Jerusalem don't have it easy, either. Arab employees who decide to wait out the roadblocks often don't get to work until 10 or 11 a.m.