BANKING

Arab Banks Reopen in Wake of Peace Accords: The first Egyptian bank branch since Israel captured the West Bank during the Six Day War in 1967 has received a license to reopen in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the Bank of Israel said. The Egyptian-Jordanian Arab Land Bank will open for business in the same building it occupied in the town of Bethlehem prior to 1967. Locally owned Commercial Bank of Palestine was due to open a branch in Ramallah today, according to Bank of Israel spokesman Yoav Lehmann. “Slowly, a whole financial system is being built” in the West Bank, said Lehmann.