UN highlights bleak economic situation for Palestinians

London, 14 June-(ANA)-The economic situation in the occupied Palestinian territory has seen some improvement but remains precarious, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where the continued Israeli blockade undermines prospects for employment and growth, says a new United Nations report.

The International Labour Organization (ILO), in its annual publication on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab 

territories, attributes the improvement to an accelerated growth rate and a slightly higher rate of employment – roughly 15 per cent in both Gaza and the West Bank.

The agency adds though that the higher rate of employment is still very low by international standards. Furthermore, the unemployment rate of nearly 40 per cent in Gaza is among the highest in the world. 

In addition, the three-year-old blockade which Israel imposed on Gaza after Hamas ousted the Fatah movement and took control of the Strip in 2007 has led to uneven economic growth between that area and the West Bank. 

“The longer the closure continues, the more it undermines future prospects of workers and their families, in particular of the younger generation,” states the report, which was prepared for ILO’s International Labour Conference which opened in Geneva on 2 June.(ANA)

FA/ANA/14 June 2010-----------