Although unemployment decreased by 1.6 percent year-on-year in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), it remained at around 30 percent, or some 9 percent higher compared to 1999 pre-intifada levels, the annual 'Report on Assistance to the Palestinian People' conducted by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said.
This is only a fraction of the average in Lebanon where the UN Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) estimates that some 60 percent of Palestinian refugees are unemployed, with the Popular Committee, an administrative committee representing different political factions in the Ain al-Hilwah camp, putting the numbers even higher at around 80 percent.
Although Lebanon in August relaxed its labor restrictions for the 400,000 plus UNRWA-registered refugees, which had previously been barred from all but the most menial of professions, the impact that the reform will have, if any, remains to be seen.
The high rates of unemployment have had a devastating knock-on effect on living standards, and per capita product (GDP) fell by 30 percent in OPT in the last ten years alone, largely as a result of the intifada and the Israeli blockade of Gaza. This decrease has been further exasperated by funding shortfalls in UNRWA’s operating budget which has had a detrimental effect to the provision of basic services such as education and healthcare, leading to a fall in Palestinian living standards in Lebanon, and the region at large.
The report calculates that the 2008 Israeli incursion into Gaza, alongside the continuation of the blockade and the various closures enforced on the West Bank, have cost the Palestinian economy $3.1 billion between 2008 – 2010. It also estimates that this drain on the fragile state will continue to cost some $600 – $800 million annually if the restrictions are not lifted.
'Overcoming the Palestinian economic widespread unemployment, and deepening poverty is not possible unless all Israeli restrictive measures are lifted,' the report said. 'Palliative measures will not relaunch sustained growth or promote development, and donor support has its limits.'
UNCTAD, which has ceased its Gaza operations amid growing security concerns, predicts that an injection of $1.6 billion in aid under present conditions would result in a GDP rise of only 1 percent.
If the blockade and the various limitations were lifted, however, the same cash boost would help increase annual GDP growth by 14 percent, and create up to 80,000 more jobs, the report said.
Although a GDP increase of 6.8 percent was recorded in 2009 – comprising of 8.5 percent in the West Bank and 1 percent in Gaza – this growth must be 'cautiously viewed' in light of the poor economic performance in recent years.
Poverty and food insecurity continued to affect at least 60 percent of the Gaza population and 25 percent of people in the West Bank, which contrasts with 40 percent poverty rates experienced by Palestinians living in Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps." (source)
