Media coverage
Ma'an News Agency · 2006-06-08
In press statements reported by Ma’an in June 2006, economist Omar Shaban said the Palestinian territories were living through a humanitarian catastrophe and their worst economic crisis since 1967, caused by the punitive measures imposed after the legislative elections — among them Israel’s withholding of monthly tax revenues of 55 to 70 million dollars — together with the closure of Erez to Palestinian workers, the repeated closure of the Karni crossing and some 600 checkpoints across the West Bank. He warned that the government could no longer pay its 160,000 employees, on whose salaries about a million Palestinians depend, that economic hardship was fuelling internal strife, and that shortages and stagnation were pushing capital to invest abroad. He called on donors and the Palestinian government to create industrial zones to develop local industry and process agricultural produce, and accused Israel of having no interest in developing Palestinian industry.
In press statements reported by Ma’an in June 2006, economist Omar Shaban said the Palestinian territories were living through a humanitarian catastrophe and their worst economic crisis since 1967, caused by the punitive measures imposed after the legislative elections — among them Israel’s withhol…
Gaza - Ma'an - Economic expert Omar Shaban said that the Palestinian territories are going through a humanitarian catastrophe and an economic crisis that is the worst since 1967, as a result of a combination of punitive factors that have led to the destruction of the infrastructure of the economy.
He said, "What the Strip is witnessing in terms of tension as a result of the economic crisis, which has had an undeniable role in increasing tension in the atmosphere of the internal conflict, is because internal conflict does not grow amid economic prosperity and does not arise in countries living in welfare and development, since scarcity of resources and lack of funds are among the main causes of internal fighting, civil war, and security chaos."
Shaban described the Palestinian economy in press statements today as medium-sized, and one that cannot withstand and continue under the punitive measures imposed on it, which have contributed to an economic situation that can only be described as catastrophic.
He added, "From the very first moment the results of the Palestinian legislative elections were announced, the international community adopted a series of sanctions, represented in Israel's suspension of monthly tax revenues, which range between $55 million and $70 million per month."
Shaban pointed out that the closure of the Erez crossing to Palestinian laborers and workers employed inside the Green Line, the repeated closure of the Karni crossing, the establishment of 600 checkpoints cutting up the West Bank, in addition to the wall and the establishment of international crossings in the heart of the West Bank, have greatly affected the national economy.
He explained that the Karni crossing has been closed since the beginning of the current year without justification, with the closure rate reaching approximately 60%, which has left the Palestinian market in a constant state of shortage of raw materials for industry and trade, medical supplies, medicines, some foodstuffs, and infant formula.
Shaban said, "These measures have resulted in new economic conditions and crises that have highlighted the features of the catastrophe and produced a structural imbalance, as the government has become unable to provide salaries for 160,000 public employees, constituting 40% of Palestinian society, as government salaries are a main source of income for one million Palestinians who suddenly lost their source of income."
He added: "The repeated closure of the crossings has created a severe shortage of materials and goods, which has raised their prices in the Palestinian markets and increased the burden on the citizen, not to mention the severe stagnation in the internal movement of the domestic market, which has increased the features of a crisis in the private sector, such as restaurants, small companies, small factories, and all projects that have been negatively affected. It has become an ordinary sight to find shops closing their doors at early hours, and this is one of the reasons driving capital flight abroad and investment in neighboring countries."
Shaban described the economy as fragile as a result of its exposure over the past five years to the systematic destruction of factories and commercial units, the bulldozing of productive agricultural land, and the prevention of external exports, which has weakened the economy's ability to endure, forewarning of economic and political crises.
Shaban called on donor countries and the Palestinian government to establish industrial zones as one of the mechanisms for developing Palestinian industry, and to set up industrial areas to modernize and develop industry and increase national income through investment in the industrial sector.
Saying, "One of the mechanisms aimed at bringing the Palestinian national economy out of its current crisis is to use the available cadres of labor and graduates in order to make local Palestinian industries independent and develop agricultural products by processing them in the Palestinian territories through the establishment of integrated industrial zones to limit the problems of the agricultural sector in marketing its products."
Shaban accused the occupation state of not being concerned with developing the industrial sector, and of buying Palestinian agricultural products, reprocessing them in the territories occupied in 1948, and exporting them again to the Gaza Strip, whereby the greater part of the benefit returns to the Israeli economy.
Text © Ma'an News Agency — archived here with attribution to the source. — Machine translation for archival reference. — Original source