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Economic Situation in Palestinian Territories deteriorates: 291,372 Palestinians Unemployed

Ma'an News Agency

19 July, 2007

Since the beginning of the Second Intifada (2000) the economic situation in the Palestinian territories has been deteriorating. Labour participation and job opportunities have been badly affected by the Israeli sieges and the closure of Palestinian lands by the Israel government.

The head of local labor within the PA Ministry of Labor, Sirriya Abu Sam'adan, said that unemployment increased and that the total number reached 291,372 Palestinian jobless workers.

She added that the number will only increase, but that the ministry is doing its best to combat unemployment. In a report issued on Wednesday, Sam'adan stated that the ministry has given financial aid to 75,000 workers, and is intent on helping yet more affected laborers.

Another official in the ministry said that many of the laborers that used to work in Israel lost their jobs. This number will also increase over time. The ministry of labor is offering them assistance through an unemployment program.

Out of work Palestinians, especially those that formerly worked in Israel, are no longer able to provide their families with a minimum living standard. Labor societies have warned that some of the unemployed will search other means of earning a living, perhaps resorting to crime in the process.

Worker Sabir Abu Ar Rish told Ma'an that "I may find myself forced to commit crimes or beg to earn my family a living. The government should do more to secure work for the workers." He said that his family is suffering very badly from hard conditions," adding that "I can't afford to bring them food."

The wife of one of the unemployed worker called on Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas for help. "I want him to take care of the workers and find them job opportunities." She also said that "I don’t have even half a NIS to give to my son when he goes to his kindergarten, I feel so frustrated and weak as I can't explain it to him or find the suitable justification to tell him about why I can't."

Reports of the Ministry of Labor show that some headway is being made through the official unemployment programmes, but it is only a drop on a hot plate, and not enough for a solution to the problem, say officials.