Economic Cooperation Despite of Political Conflict: The Role of Social Embeddedness in Israeli-Palestinian Food Trade

Against the background of the Middle East conflict we study the role of social embeddedness of economic actors belonging to both conflicting parties for their perceptions of transaction problems and capabilities to solve them. Our analysis is based on a quantitative survey among Israeli food wholesalers. We find vivid economic relationships between Israeli and Palestinian traders, no particular problems occur. Continuity of business relations points to a strong role of social embeddedness. Arabic is frequently used in communication referring to an important role of institutional embeddedness. Various trade impediments due to the conflict do not impact Israeli but Palestinian traders