An Israeli soldier inspecting a shiptment of wheat at the Karni crossing before it can be tranferred into the Gaza Strip.

Numerous reports by the World Bank and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, amongst others, detail the need to lift restrictions on the movement of goods and people placed by Israel on the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) (for references, see end of document). All indicators show that these obstacles are stifling the Palestinian economy, with trade and labor flows being the chief casualties, resulting in widespread poverty and dependence on humanitarian aid. 

Poverty afflicted 30.8% of Palestinian households in 2006, with 18.5% in deep poverty. At the same time, the number of checkpoints and other barriers in the West Bank doubled in 2006 as compared to 2005, reaching 541 in July 2007, with a further 524 “flying” (mobile and irregular) checkpoints. The Gaza Strip has been under blockade since June 2006, when an Israeli soldier was abducted, and even more so since the Hamas takeover of June 2007. Exports from the West Bank declined by some 16% in 2006, and trade has almost completely been halted in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 4.2% in the first quarter of 2007, after a shrinking by over 8% in 2006. Donors paid a record USD 1.4 billion in the same to the OPT. There is a correlation in these figures. This is an expensive solution for the international community that donates aid, an unsustainable one in the medium and long term (though the crisis is indeed already “prolonged” in the words of the UN Relief and Works Agency), and is moreover anomalous, since historically the OPT have not been a recipient of humanitarian aid. In this policy statement, the Alternative Information Center contends that these distortions can only be rectified under full Palestinian sovereignty.

With the increasing privitazation of the Israeli educational system, the educational gap between the weak and strong socioeconomic sectors is increasing.

In wake of the court petition of Israeli upper class parents, the District Court in Tel Aviv ruled last month that the Petah Tikvah Municipality and the Ministry of Education must publish the success rates in matriculation exams for the city’s schools. 

On the surface, it seems reasonable in a democratic society for  parents to receive reliable information about the academic achievements of their children in school. However, while this decision could have encouraged the schools, the parents and the pupils to work and improve the level of education, in reality, this decision represents just one more stage in the ongoing process of destroying the principle of public education. It is also a component of the ratings war among schools attempting to attract children of the elite.

This is one of the most sophisticated mechanisms created so far, in order to classify pupils by schools and to label schools as being weak or strong—a mechanism that will contribute towards privatization and the destruction of the public basis for equal education.

The local Jadal music group played at the AIC's annual celebration of International Women’s Day (AIC archive photo, 2008).

In celebration of International Women’s Day, over 60 Palestinian women gathered yesterday at the Alternative Information Center (AIC) in Beit Sahour for an afternoon of political discussions, laughter and singing. 

“Resistance also means living,” noted Amira Hilal, Coordinator of the AIC Women’s Project. “For so many political and social reasons we don’t always have space and time for laughter and being together, things that those in the West take for granted, so this event was particularly special for the group.”

In what is already a custom in their third year of commemorations of International Women’s Day, the group of women learned together about the historical struggles of working women in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, struggles that helped give birth to the international women’s and labor movements, together with this day of commemoration. “The connections between labor, gender and exploitation are ones that we can understand intimately from daily life,” adds Connie Hackbarth, Executive Director of the AIC.

"The Gaza Strip: A Humanitarian Implosion" report was issued by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, Amnesty International, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Medecins du Monde UK, Oxfam, Save the Children UK and Trocaire.

Executive Summary

The situation for 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is worse now than it has ever been since the start of the Israeli military occupation in 1967. The current situation in Gaza is man­made, completely avoidable and, with the necessary political will, can also be reversed.

Gaza has suffered from a long­term pattern of economic stagnation and plummeting development indicators. The severity of the situation has increased exponentially since Israel imposed extreme restrictions on the movement of goods and people in response to the Hamas take over of Gaza and to indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israel. This report illustrates the gravity of the current situation across key sectors.

Humanitarian Access

Movement in and out of Gaza is all but impossible and supplies of food and water, sewage treatment, and basic healthcare can no longer be taken for granted. As a result of the blockade and collapse of the economy, there is little money to buy food and limited food to buy. Food prices are rising and wheat flour, baby milk, and rice, among other essential goods, are increasingly scarce. During the period of May-June 2007 alone, these commodity prices rose 34%, 30% and 20.5% respectively 1.

As the humanitarian crisis intensified, the number of trucks carrying commercial and humanitarian supplies into Gaza plummeted. In the months prior to the tightening of the blockade around 250 trucks a day entered Gaza with supplies 2, now the Sufa crossing is only able to deal with a maximum of 45 trucks a day 3. In most cases, this number is barely reached.

Poverty and Dependency on Food Aid

The number of people living in absolute poverty in Gaza has increased sharply. Today, 80% of families in Gaza currently rely on humanitarian aid compared to 63% in 2006 4. This decline exposes unprecedented levels of poverty and the inability of a large majority of the population to afford basic food. In 2007, this meant that on average, households were spending approximately 62% of their total income on food

compared with 37% in 20045. As a result, food aid increased dramatically to meet the needs of this increasingly impoverished population. In 2008, there are over 1.1 million people—some three-quarters of Gaza’s population—who are dependent on food aid. In less than ten years, the number of families depending on UNRWA food aid has increased ten-fold6.