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Gisha releases new publications
Gisha releases new publications
Five years into the
closure of Gaza, Gisha releases new publications showing:
Increased Access Abroad, Separation from the West Bank and
Israel
June 2007 – June 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012: Five years after Israel closed Gaza's crossings in the wake of the Hamas takeover (June 14, 2007), Gaza has been somewhat re-opened to access abroad, but sweeping restrictions on movement to Israel and the West Bank remain nearly unchanged. As a result, the prospect of economic recovery is limited, and the integrity of the Palestinian territory, considered a cornerstone of a "two-state solution", is compromised in ways that will be difficult to reverse.
Although the current Israeli government renounced the logic of the "economic warfare" policy imposed on Gaza from 2007-2010, in practice it is still implementing restrictions with the explicit political aim of "pressuring Hamas" under the ambiguous term "separation policy" (see Gisha's new information sheet). Under this policy, for example, people in Gaza are permitted to export goods abroad that transit through Israel and the West Bank but are prevented from selling the same goods in Israel and the West Bank, where both demand and profitability are much higher.
The separation policy is sustaining the economic anomaly created by the closure, in which productive sectors are paralyzed while the local government’s budget and its narrow tier of beneficiaries enjoy staggering growth. Despite numerous official statements that Israel is committed to economic development in Gaza and despite the relative improvement in Gaza’s economy since 2009, sustainable growth is impossible in these circumstances. The relative growth reflects an acute dependence on external sources of funding and lack of income from exports; it is explained in large part by tunnel-supported construction activity and high public sector employment. Restrictions on travel between Gaza and the West Bank also sever the familial, educational and cultural ties that bind the Palestinian territory.
According to military officials, the separation policy is based on a political decision, rather than being a necessary security measure, yet, despite its far-reaching implications, it remains unclear which governmental branch made the decision to implement the policy and if it has been discussed or otherwise debated, taking into consideration the needs and rights of Gaza residents and Israel’s self-stated interests.
The Palestinian factional rift is exacerbating the separation by contributing to political and institutional fragmentation of the Palestinian territory, and complicating coordination procedures needed to facilitate movement between Gaza, Israel and the West Bank.
In a second information sheet published today, “Graphing 5 Years of closure”, Gisha provides a unique overview of the past five years in numbers and charts.
Five years of closure by the numbers
Movement of people:
Increased access via Egypt,
Israel and the West Bank mostly barred.
• Exits of
Palestinians to Egypt are nearly at pre-2007 rates; access
via sea and airspace remains blocked.
• Exits of
Palestinian travelers to the West Bank and Israel are less
than 1% of the volume before September 2000.
• Travel
from Gaza to the West Bank and Israel is officially limited
to "exceptional humanitarian cases, with an emphasis on
urgent medical treatment". However, Israel is allowing up to
100 senior merchants, most of whom are men, to enter Israel
and the West Bank each day. Less senior professionals and
businesspeople, including most businesswomen, are
banned.
• These same restrictions apply to residents of
Gaza wishing to enter the West Bank from Jordan, via the
Israeli-controlled Allenby Crossing.
Movement of
goods:
Increased access to foreign markets, access to
nearby, lucrative markets remains banned.
• Entrance of
goods to Gaza via Israeli-controlled crossings stands at 40%
of pre-closure rates. Construction materials are mostly
banned but enter Gaza from Egypt via tunnels.
• Sale of
goods from Gaza to markets in the West Bank and Israel
remains banned.
• The rate of outgoing goods, while
slightly higher since 2010, stands at 2% of what it was
before June 2007.
Adding up the numbers: Gaza isn't lacking for food, but self-sustainability and development remain blocked
• GDP rose from a low base in 2009 but
remains lower than it was in 2005
• Unemployment in the
first quarter of 2012 stands at 31.5%, among those aged
25-29 it stands at 58.9%.
• The public sector accounts
for 39% of all employed workers (working either for the
Gaza-based or Ramallah-based governments) – compared to
16.7% in the West Bank.
• More than 70% of the
population in Gaza receives humanitarian aid.
Gisha
Executive Director Sari Bashi: "Palestinians in Gaza can
travel to and trade with almost any place in the world –
except Palestinian towns in the West Bank. Israel's
separation policy is blocking economic recovery in Gaza and
deepening what threatens to be an irreversible split between
the two parts of the Palestinian
territory".
ends
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