Half of the Palestinian population is living beneath the poverty line, according to a report drawn up by the World Bank. After four years of unbridled violence in the region, the organization said the Palestinian economy has been plunged into a severe crisis causing a dramatic decline in the standard of living.
The report said that 16 percent of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, amounting to some 600,000 people, cannot afford the basic necessities for subsistence. Around one-quarter of the workforce is unemployed and nearly one-half of Palestinians live beneath the poverty line.
The organization placed the blame for the situation mainly on closures imposed by Israel, a security measure which restricts the movement of Palestinian people and their goods. “Closures, including the separation barrier, prevent the free flow of Palestinian economic transactions,” the report said. “They raise the cost of doing business and disrupt the predictability needed for orderly economic life.”
The report suggested that only a major change in the closure system as well as significant progress in the Palestinian reform program to improve the climate for private investors will bring about a sustained recovery of the Palestinian economy.