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São Paulo – The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) released this Tuesday (1st) a report about the assistance that the agency offers to the Palestinian people and warns that the Gaza Strip will become uninhabitable until 2020 “if current economic trends persist”.<\/p>\n
The UN agency emphasizes that the economic blockade imposed by Israel to the territory already lasts for eight years, that in the last six years the area was the target of three military interventions and that all this resulted in the loss of its production capacity even for the domestic market, in the destruction of its infrastructure, without time for reconstruction, and in the acceleration of a process of economic and social regression. <\/p>\n
Unctad lists data such as the lack of drinking water – 95% of the water resources are unfit for human consumption –, the forced displacement of 500,000 people during the last Israeli attack in 2014, the destruction of 20,000 homes, 148 schools, 15 hospitals and 45 basic healthcare units. <\/p>\n
The organization also cites the total or partial destruction of 247 factories and 300 commercial centers, and the enormous damage caused to the lone energy generation plant of the territory, that even before the last attack only met 40% of the demand. The statement adds that Palestinians are prohibited of exploring the natural gas reserves discovered in Gaza’s coastline in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
According to the report, three military operations done by Israel from 2008 to 2014 caused damages equivalent to three times the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Gaza, not counting the loss of human lives. The agency emphasizes that the agricultural sector suffered losses of US$ 550 million.<\/p>\n
According to the report, unemployment in the territory reached the record-breaking number of 44%, and the GDP per capita dropped 30% since 1994. Besides, food insecurity impacts 72% of the households and the number of refugees that depend on the food distributed by the UN went from 72,000 in the year 2000 to 868,000 in May of 2015, a number that represents half of Gaza’s population.<\/p>\n
The survey says that the support of international donors remains crucial, however, not enough for the reconstruction of the territory and the reversal of the trend of impoverishment of the population.<\/p>\n
Recession<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unctad also reports on the occupied Palestinian territories together, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, besides the Gaza Strip. According to the agency, the Palestinian GDP declined 0.4% in 2014, it was the first recession year since 2006, and the per capita income dropped for the second straight year. <\/p>\n The organization says that in the first four months of this year, the Israeli government withheld almost US$ 700 million in taxes from the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and that similar actions like there occurred six times since 1997, retaining a total of US$ 3 billion.<\/p>\n These taxes are paid for the import of products by the Palestinian territories and collected by Israel for the PNA. The tax rate represents 75% of the Palestinian tax collection. <\/p>\n The document points out that, once the funds are freed, Israel won’t pay for interest rates on the time it withheld the money. On the other hand, Israelis charge high interest rates and fines when the PNA delays payments on water, energy and sanitation.<\/p>\n Unctac revels that unemployment in Palestine as a whole increased 3% last year and reached 30%, and that food insecurity reached one in three households. Economic difficulties, according to the report, are exacerbated by the increasing number of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and by the restrictions in the movement of people and goods.<\/p>\n For the UN agency, these limitations inhibit investments in domestic production and increase the dependency on imports and on the support of international donors. The humanitarian crisis in the region and the losses imposed by the occupation force the use of the donated resources in emergency actions and not in support and development initiatives.<\/p>\n Unctad concludes saying that the economic outlook for the rest of 2015 are bleak given the political uncertainties, the decline on international donations and the reconstruction slow rhythm in the Gaza Strip. <\/p>\n *Translated by Sérgio Kakitani<\/strong><\/p>\n