CAIRO: The Palestinian economy was at its lowest point for a decade in 2006 as it continued to suffer from isolation due to the Israeli occupation and Israeli refusal to release customs revenues, according to a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report. The United Nations Information Center (Unic) in Cairo held a press conference Thursday to release the results of the report. The deterioration in the Palestinian economy stems from the closure of the borders as well as the ever-increasing number of Israeli checkpoints. These impediments have proved an incalculable hindrance to the transfer of goods, the report said. Unic Cairo Director Maher Nasser said it was difficult to forecast Palestine's economic future due to the uncertainty of the sources of income. Nasser also said that there is financial instability within the Palestinian Authority (PA), which throws the entire territories into uncertainty, as the PA is the main employer in the territories. The report states that the PA has lost $1.2 billion in revenues from 2000 to 2005 due to the "impact of prolonged Israeli occupation and closure policies. In 2006, GDP was down by 6.6 percent and the budget deficit was 73 percent. Fifty-three percent of all Palestinians live under the poverty line, which is less than $2 a day. Seventy-one percent of government employees live under the poverty line and unemployment in the territories has hit 30 percent. One million people rely solely on aid provided by UN agencies in the territories. The report highlights that the economic situation in Gaza is worse than in the West Bank. The international community has backed the PA which rules in the West Bank, but Gaza has been even more isolated since its takeover by Hamas. Nasser quoted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as saying, "If what is left of Gaza's economy is allowed to collapse, poverty levels, already affecting an estimated two-thirds of households, will rise further and the people of Gaza will become near totally aid-dependant. Concerning the facilitation of providing aid to the territories by the UN, Nasser said there is a disparity between the ease of entry into the West Bank as opposed to Gaza. "There is a big difference, Nasser told Daily News Egypt, "Gaza has only one main entry point from Israel for commodities, when that is closed there is no other way to get commodities into Gaza. The West Bank is a much larger territory and there are different routes. There is hardly a comparison. As for circumventing the difficulties in Gaza, Nasser said, "It depends on the current situation, sometimes there is a complete clamp down . then there are appeals and then there is an inflow. Sometimes the rate of inflow is enough to replenish supplies, sometimes it is not. "The current situation with the blockade is not only about bringing in humanitarian supplies, Nasser added, "If you are not bringing in concrete for construction, then you are losing thousands of jobs for people working in that sector. The report offers recommendations to alleviate the crippling economic conditions in Palestine, specifically re-routing trade through alternative port facilities in Jordan and Egypt to bypass the Israeli lockdown on marine routes. The report also calls for more trade between Palestine and neighboring Arab countries. As it stands Palestinian trade is almost solely conducted with Israel, which constitutes 92 percent of total trade. Trade with Egypt is a mere one percent, Jordan two percent and Europe three percent. Concerning the political situation that has led to this economic decline, Ki-moon spoke in Brussels Thursday for the International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace, saying "the continued occupation of the Palestinian territory prolongs hardship and injustice for millions of Palestinians. UNCTAD is a UN body that promotes integration of developing countries in the global economy. Besides collecting data and research, it also offers technical assistance to countries in the area of sustainable development.
