|
|
Rural
poverty in Gaza and the West Bank
Five years of economic crisis have brought the Palestinian economy to the verge of collapse. Living standards have dropped considerably and levels of poverty, deprivation and unemployment are increasing rapidly throughout the territories. In 2003 the World Bank estimated a poverty rate of between 38 and 51 per cent. According to reliable estimates, the number of poor people in Gaza and the West Bank increased from 600,000 in 1999 to 2.2 million in 2005. More than one million Palestinians, or one in four inhabitants of the occupied territories, suffer from extreme poverty and are unable to provide their basic needs of food, shelter and clothing. Poverty is currently so severe in Gaza and the West Bank that even lifting of closures and a return to pre-intifada levels of employment would do little to relieve the economic crisis. According to a World Bank study, published in September 2006, should the current situation continue, by the end of 2006 the average Palestinian income would decrease by 40% and the estimated poverty rate would increase to 67%. The unemployment rate was estimated at 25 per cent and the situation is worsening. Unemployment continues to rise as more Palestinians are unable to reach their jobs in Israel and other parts of the occupied Palestinian territories because of closures, checkpoints and the introduction of separation barriers. In addition large numbers of Palestinians have lost their jobs in Israel to guest workers, part of the Israeli policy of ‘disengagement’. The domestic economy is unable to accommodate this mass of recently unemployed workers as well as the increasing numbers of young people entering the labour force. Reliable projections estimate that per capita incomes for 2006 will be half those of pre-2000 levels and unemployment will affect half the Palestinian labour force by the end of the year. Conditions for those living in the occupied territories are increasingly difficult and are worsened by frequent air strikes by the Israeli militia and almost daily clashes between various rival political factions within Palestinian society. The density of population is very high, particularly in Gaza , and many people – about a third of the population of Gaza - have been living for decades in refugee camps. The infant mortality rate is very high. Sanitation is often primitive. School enrolment is still high at 88 per cent, but schools are overcrowded and struggle to maintain a productive learning environment. With extensive foreign assistance, the Palestinian Authority, municipalities and NGOs have been able to maintain the delivery of core services. But the coping strategies of the poorest segment of Palestinian society are being increasingly strained. Rural poverty has been rising since the outbreak of the intifada. Poor and marginalized people living in rural areas are sinking deeper into poverty and deprivation. Estimates suggest that the incidence of rural poverty reached 50 per cent at the end of 2004. Who and where are Gaza and the West Bank’s rural poor people? Studies have found that the poorest families tend to be larger, with relatively low levels of education. Poverty is also strongly related to unemployment and irregular employment. Young people represent a large portion of Palestinian society. As unemployment rises, there is a danger that those who are unable to find jobs may be drawn into the conflict. The intifada and subsequent closures and economic crisis have particularly affected Palestinian women. With husbands and sons killed, detained or unemployed, women have had to bear the responsibility for ensuring the survival of their families, and have engaged to a greater extent in income-generating activities. Traditionally Palestinian women have had little control over productive resources. Very few own property or have access to bank loans. The proportion of women employed in the Palestinian labour force ranks among the lowest in the world. Instead, women are the dominant unpaid agricultural labour force, working long and hard in the fields. Poverty in Gaza is most extreme in the central and southern areas of the territory. According to a report issued in 1997 by the Palestinian Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, in the southern Gaza Strip, 51 per cent of the population is poor, while in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip the figure falls to 31 per cent. Why are they poor? The tightening of the closure policy following the beginning of the intifada in September 2000 has had a devastating effect on the Palestinian people living in Gaza and the West Bank. Economic conditions have deteriorated rapidly, as have living standards in general. In addition, a large proportion of international aid to the Palestinian Authority was withdrawn after the Palestinian elections in early 2006 and the victory of the Islamic movement Hamas. This dwindling donor support has left the Palestinian Authority in a perilous financial position. Rural poverty is also a consequence of the difficult conditions faced by farmers in the territories. In some areas landholdings are very fragmented. The Israelis have destroyed agricultural infrastructure, confiscated and reduced access to land and water resources and restricted the movement of agricultural goods and trade. The 670 km separation wall dividing the West Bank from Israel was begun in 2002 during one of the most violent phases of the intifada. The barrier restricts the access of tens of thousands of Palestinian people to work, schools, hospitals and family. Almost one fifth of the West Bank ’s agricultural land has remained on the Israeli side of the separation barrier, cutting farmers off from their land and causing a further decline in agricultural production. Water and the conflict Water is a vital resource that is extremely scarce in the occupied territories. Freshwater availability per capita per year is one of the lowest in the world, and the Palestinians use about 70 per cent of available water for agriculture. Scarcity of water is a major constraint to economic growth and already threatens the livelihood of the growing population. The demand for water is accelerating at a high rate, and it is essential that efficient irrigation and water management practices be adopted to meet food demands and the continued growth of the urban population. Water scarcity has played a large part in the present conflict. The chronic lack of water in Israel and the occupied territories causes problems of environmental degradation – such as desertification, soil degradation, and salinization and depletion of water resources – all of which are a serious impediment to agricultural productivity. As users draw deeper on aquifers, salt water contaminates these limited water sources. Gaza’s main agricultural product, citrus fruits, are highly intolerant of salt and are suffering from declining quality and crop yields as a result of soil salinization. There are ongoing disputes between Palestinians and the Israeli government over access to water, particularly since Israel appropriated control of the water resources available to the Palestinian West Bank. The fact that water management is neither equitable nor sustainable will inevitably lead to a worsening of the conflict as well as aggravating living and productive conditions in the occupied territories. Resolving the issues presented by water scarcity is essential to containing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Source: IFAD |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
email this article