 According to Diana Buttu, while industrial zones like Barkan supply important jobs to Palestinian workers, their existence challenges Palestinian aspirations for an independent state.Mohammed Mustafa, the Palestinian deputy prime minister for economic affairs, has labeled such industrial parks a form of "business colonization".By 1998, it extended over 150 dunams (37 acres) and since has expanded to cover over 1,300 dunams (about 325 acres) (2013).