Unemployment In The Occupied Palestinian Territory Is About 30 Per Cent

UNCTAD presented today (1 Sep) to journalists in Geneva the annual report on UNCTAD's assistance to the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Mahmoud Elkhafif, UNCTAD, Coordinator of the Assistance to the Palestinian People said that "the economy last year declined by half a percentage point, and this is the first decline since last seven years. And the reason for the decline actually was what happened in Gaza, the full scale military operation over Gaza that took place in July and August last year."

He continued, explaining that "as a result actually, the unemployment in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is about 30 per cent, food insecurity is high, it is about - one in three households are actually food insecure, the situation in Gaza is much, much worse. The unemployment in Gaza is about 44 percent; everyone in two is not finding a job. Food insecurity - I think every six out of 10 households are food insecure and so on".

UNCTAD's prognosis for the economic development of the Occupied Palestinian Territory doesn't look very promising.

"The prospect for 2015 actually is not that good: We don't expect that the economy will grow much faster, I am basically foreseeing this for many reasons: The first one is again what happened in Gaza, the economy is still slowing down, lots of infrastructure has been destroyed, lots of industries and small workshops have been destroyed, not coming back to work. But I have to add to that that the donor money is not coming as expected, and then the third point which will may be the most important one is; Israel withheld the Palestinian tax revenue that Israel collected on behalf of the Palestinian National Authority and then cleared to them - Israel did not do that for the first four month of this year, actually the first part of the months 2015. We think that this will have a very negative impact on the Palestinian economy."

The UNCTAD Coordinator recommends that "we need to think seriously about activating the movement and access agreement that was signed between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government in 2005, because Gaza has suffered from 3 wars, on top of a blockade in 2007, so the main recommendation is we need to lift the blockade, and we need to seriously starting reconstruction in Gaza".

In 2014 UNCTAD's assistance to the Palestinian people continued through research, the provision of advisory services and training and capacity building for the Palestinian public sector.
        


STORY: GENEVA / PALESTINE TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 1 SEPTEMBER 2015, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, exterior Palais des Nations

1 SEPTEMBER 2015, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mahmoud Elkhafif, UNCTAD, Coordinator of the Assistance to the Palestinian People:
"The economy last year declined by half a percentage point, and this is the first decline since last seven years. And the reason for the decline actually was what happened in Gaza, the full scale military operation over Gaza that took place in July and August last year."
4. Wide shot, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mahmoud Elkhafif, UNCTAD, Coordinator of the Assistance to the Palestinian People:
"As a result actually, the unemployment in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is about 30 per cent, food insecurity is high, it is about - one in three households are actually food insecure, the situation in Gaza is much, much worse. The unemployment in Gaza is about 44 percent; everyone in two is not finding a job. Food insecurity - I think every six out of 10 households are food insecure and so on".
6. Close up, name tag
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mahmoud Elkhafif, UNCTAD, Coordinator of the Assistance to the Palestinian People:
"The prospect for 2015 actually is not that good: We don't expect that the economy will grow much faster, I am basically foreseeing this for many reasons: The first one is again what happened in Gaza, the economy is still slowing down, lots of infrastructure has been destroyed, lots of industries and small workshops have been destroyed, not coming back to work. But I have to add to that that the donor money is not coming as expected, and then the third point which will may be the most important one is; Israel withheld the Palestinian tax revenue that Israel collected on behalf of the Palestinian National Authority and then cleared to them - Israel did not do that for the first four month of this year, actually the first part of the months 2015. We think that this will have a very negative impact on the Palestinian economy."
8. Med shot, journalist listening
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mahmoud Elkhafif, UNCTAD, Coordinator of the Assistance to the Palestinian People:
"We need to think seriously about activating the movement and access agreement that was signed between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government in 2005."
10. Close up, journalist listening
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Mahmoud Elkhafif, UNCTAD, Coordinator of the Assistance to the Palestinian People:
"Because Gaza has suffered from 3 wars, on top of a blockade in 2007, so the main recommendation is we need to lift the blockade, and we need to seriously starting reconstruction in Gaza."
12. Medium shot, Mahmoud Elkhafif
13. Wide shot, press room

DURATION: 02:37