Posted on 08/09/2007 6:22:34 PM PDT by Alouette
‘Strip risks becoming virtually 100 percent aid dependent and isolated within a matter of months or weeks if the present regime of closure continues,’ says deputy head of UN Relief and Works Agency
Associated Press Published: 08.09.07, 21:36 / Israel News
The Gaza Strip will soon become entirely dependent on foreign aid and face “disastrous consequences” if the Hamas-run territory remains sealed off, the UN cautioned on Thursday, while a Palestinian business group warned that at least 120,000 more Gazans could lose their jobs.
Israel and Egypt closed their crossings with Gaza to all but humanitarian aid after the Islamic militant Hamas violently seized power in the coastal strip in June, exacerbating poverty among the 1.4 million residents of the already impoverished territory.
The blockade has put Gaza’s fragile economy in danger and the window of opportunity for addressing the crisis “is small and fast closing”, said Filippo Grandi, the deputy head of UN Relief and Works Agency, the international body responsible for Palestinian refugees.
“Gaza risks becoming a virtually 100 percent aid dependent, closed down and isolated community within a matter of months or weeks, if the present regime of closure continues,” Grandi told reporters Thursday at a Gaza City press conference.
Grandi appealed to “the Palestinian Authority, Israel and all other parties” to open the crossings, saying failure to do so would lead to “disastrous consequences, an atmosphere of hopelessness and despair in which extremism likely to take hold”.
Even before Hamas’ Gaza takeover, 1.1 million Gazans received foreign food assistance, a figure that rose sharply as a result of Israeli trade restrictions and an international aid embargo imposed after Hamas won 2006 elections.
Separately, the Association of Palestinian Businessmen reported Thursday that cumulative losses to industry in Gaza had reached $23 million since the Hamas takeover. If the closure continues, at least 120,000 workers in Gaza could lose their jobs, the association said.
'Gaza creates a security threat for us'
Two weeks ago, the Palestinian Federation of Industries reported that the closure of Gaza had forced the dismissal of about 70,000 of 120,000 private sector workers, driving unemployment above 40 percent.
The Hamas takeover has left Gaza isolated, but has also had the effect of jump-starting peace moves. Israel and the international community are scrambling to shore up President Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah movement, who formed a moderate government that rules the West Bank.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is now holding regular talks with Abbas, and Israel scaled back its military activities in the West Bank. But clashes continue in Gaza, where troops regularly battle Palestinian militants firing rockets into Israel.
“Gaza creates a security threat for us, while the other part controlled by the new Palestinian government can create an opportunity,” Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Thursday during a visit to Sderot, a southern Israeli town regularly targeted by Palestinian rocket teams.
Early Thursday, soldiers shot dead an unarmed 22-year-old Palestinian man along the Gaza-Israel border fence, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
The army said troops spotted a man crawling near the fence past midnight and suspected he was planting a bomb. Soldiers opened fire after he ignored warning shots, the army said.
In a separate incident, the army said soldiers fired at two men next to the border fence who appeared to be attempting to plant an explosive device, and hit one while the other escaped.
Palestinian medical officials had no word on the condition of the shot man, who was hit on the Gaza side of the fence. In continued internal Palestinian tension, Hamas arrested a doctor loyal to Fatah who reported that supplies at the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital have been scarce since the Islamic group’s Gaza takeover.
The Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, accused Dr. Jomma Saka of lying, then fired him on grounds of corruption, accusing him among other things of stealing furniture from the hospital.
Hamas denied that Saka’s arrest was politically motivated.
MADE.
Hey, isn't it way past your beddie-bye time?
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
Well then, they better act fast. We can't have "extemism" take hold in Gaza, no siree.
Aren’t things so much better now in Gaza after Israel traded some ‘land for peace’ there, and removed its settlers?
Extremism, which was fueled only by the presence of the settlements, has now ended, and peace reigns...(sarc/off)
Grandi's job -- indeed, his whole organization -- is dependent upon Palestinians.
And has been...for sixty friggin' years.
If it were not for the UN and foreign aid, these people would no longer be "refugees".
Liberals ruin everything they touch.
“Tough titty” said the kitty....
Let ‘em lie. Easy to carpet bomb better.....
so?
What else is new? The entire, "Palestinian State" is nothing more than a super violent, "Pruitt Igo" type welfare project. The purpose of Palestinian children is for Islamic cannon fodder. There are few economic opportunities for the young people. The future of these people is grim and it is their fault.
Actually this is entirely up to one of 'the other paties' -- the residents of Gaza. All they have to do is to get on their knees, repent their evildoing, and beg the Israelis as their brethren under God (Allah) to forgive them. Everyone loves the Parable of the Prodigal Son and soon the people of the Holy Land will live in peace and love.
If they don't the problem will solve itself.
Most of the chemical-free organic agricultural products were exported to Europe. In addition, the community of Atzmona had Israel’s largest plant nursery, and with 800 cows, the Katif dairy was the second largest in the country.
The total sum of exports from the greenhouses of Gush Katif, which were owned by 200 farmers, came to $200,000,000 per year and made up 15% of the agricultural exports of the State of Israel.
The combined assets in Gush Katif were estimated at $23 billion.
Of Israel’s total exports abroad, Gush Katif exported:
95% of bug-free lettuce and greens
70% of organic vegetables
60% of cherry tomatoes
60% of geraniums to Europe.
The Economic Cooperation Foundation, which is funded by the European Union, agreed to purchase the hothouses for $14 million and transfer ownership to the Palestinian Authority, so that the 4,000 Palestinians employed to work in them could keep their jobs.
Former head of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, contributed $500,000 of his own money to the project.
When the IDF left Gaza, thousands of Palestinians looted the area, and 800 of the 4,000 hothouses were left unusable.
Pali’s have been surviving on hand outs for years..
They are the ultimate welfare state.
If allah is so great, why are his most ardent followers starving to death while they kill each other? A small model of the Islamic Utopia has been created in Gaza. All the infidels have been removed, it is the modern world’s first ethnically cleansed, religiously ideal future world.
It seems the Islamic model absolutely depends on for its survival the very people it is sworn to kill to the last man.
This reminds me of a school of Piranha calling to the people on the shore to come swim for a bit.
The closure of Gaza did not work out quite like the Palestinians expected. They could always invite the Jews back I guess...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Hamas/Fatah/Gaza = The La Raza of the Middle East.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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