In the midst of the diplomatic tension this Wednesday between the UN and the Israeli government, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) today published a study that holds Israel responsible for the critical economic and social situation in the territories. Palestinians, before the current military siege on Gaza.
The report analyzes the economic indicators for 2022 in the occupied territories and concludes that commercial, labor and monetary dependence on Israel, together with the border closure, hinders the development of Palestine and leads to an increase in poverty and unemployment.
The situation was already especially dramatic in Gaza before the current blockade of food, energy and fuel, which is added to the destruction of buildings and infrastructure as a result of Israeli bombings.
The study states that 80% of the population of Gaza could no longer survive without humanitarian aid that comes mainly from the EU and several Arab countries. This percentage is 40% of the average of the population of all the occupied territories.
"Living in Gaza in 2022 meant being confined to one of the most densely populated spaces in the world, without electricity half the time or adequate access to clean water or a proper sewage system," the UN study indicates.
"Restrictions on the movement of people and goods, the destruction of productive assets in frequent military operations and the ban on the import of key technologies and inputs have undermined Gaza's economy," the document adds.
"In 2020, during the pandemic, we already warned that at the current rate Gaza could become an uninhabitable place in 2022," UNCTAD Director of Globalization and Development Strategies, Richard Kozul-Wright, said this Wednesday during the presentation. of the report at UN headquarters in Geneva.
Although the study ensures that the GDP of the occupied territories grew by 3.9% in 2022, real GDP per capita was 8.6% below the level of 2019, before the pandemic. Meanwhile, in Gaza, real GDP was 11.7% below the pre-pandemic level and near its lowest point since 1994.
The dependence imposed by Israel is reflected in the fact that 72% of Palestinian trade is carried out with the occupying country. Palestine does not have an issuing bank and depends on the shekel, the Israeli currency, as well as its labor supply. Official unemployment is 24% in the territories as a whole and 22.5% of Palestinians in the West Bank were working in Israeli territory and settlements in 2022.
Regarding humanitarian aid, last year the government of the Palestinian National Authority received from the EU or Arab countries 250 million dollars in budget support and 300 million dollars for development projects, which represented a drop in relation to the previous years, such as 2008, when that aid reached 2 billion dollars.
