As if mass unemployment, poverty, and a blockade that pens almost two million people into 160 square kilometer open prison weren’t bad enough, a U.N. report has said that Gaza could become uninhabitable by 2020.
Surrounded by Egypt to the south, Israel to the north and east, and Israeli gunships to the West (that regularly open fire on Gaza fisherman), 1.8 million Palestinians live in the restricted enclave — a number predicted to rise to 2.1 million by 2020.
According to the report, Israel’s three military operations in the last six years and the eight-year economic blockade have ravaged Gaza’s infrastructure, shattered its production base, and prevented meaningful reconstruction and economic recovery.
Using the term “de-development” to describe a process where development is not only hindered but reversed, the report cites last year’s Operation Protective Edge:
The most recent military operation compounded already dire socioeconomic conditions and accelerated de-development in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, a process by which development is not merely hindered but reversed.
The 50-day offensive last July/August killed over 2,200 Palestinians — including over 500 children — and sent the Palestinian economy into its first recession since 2006. Hundreds of Palestinians lost homes, limbs, and family members during Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire. Thousands remain displaced after the bombardment.
Aside from the military operations, the report claims the blockade had already led to large-scale cessation of production and loss of employment. It describes the destruction of Gaza’s local economy and productive assets and infrastructure, including numerous industrial, agricultural, commercial, and residential facilities.
Gaza has the highest unemployment rate in the world, standing at 43%, and the report predicts that if current economic and population trends continue, the region will hit a crisis point in 2020. Highlighting the crisis faced in relation to water and electricity, the U.N. claims that Gaza’s reliance on coastal aquifers as the only source of fresh water means that 95% of water is not fit to drink.
The latest report’s claims of Gaza’s bleak prospects echoed similar warnings released in a World Bank report in May that estimated Gaza’s GDP would have been four times higher if it hadn’t been for the conflicts and multiple restrictions.
“Most of Gaza’s 1.8 million residents are confined to an area of 160 square kilometers and are not able to travel beyond this area without permits. According to the Washington-based Center for Mind-Body-Medicine, as many as one third of Gaza’s children showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder even before the 2014 armed conflict, now even more,” said Steen Lau Jorgensen, World Bank Director for the West Bank and Gaza.
The World Bank report also claims the status quo in Gaza is unsustainable. It states that recovery of the impoverished region will be dependent on donor financing, easing of the blockade to allow reconstruction materials in and exports out, and effective governance systems under Palestinian Authority leadership.
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Michaela Whitton joined Anti-Media as its first journalist abroad in May of 2015. Her topics of interest include human rights, conflict, the Middle East, Palestine, and Israel. Born and residing in the United Kingdom, she is also a photographer. Learn more about Whitton here!
The Israelis and the Zionists will be pleased by the massacre and destruction they caused to a this small country. This Fascist Israeli regime is tough knowing that it has the support of the West and its connection to the NWO. If they ever wonder why so many dislike Jews then this and its occupation of Palestinian land is the reason. If they think they are so clever why then not accept the refugees from Syria? A weak and selfish nation and a mistake that it was created after WW2.
Jewry usury of America…
Well it started with the 6 million gassed myth and a shitload of guilt induced on a war population of grieving countries. Or they wouldn’t exist. I, for one, am grateful that they’ve assembled in israel. At least they’re less of them in L.A. n N.Y. LOL This presents the opportunity to Iran of just TelAviv to nuk. One has to wonder what AIPAC would lobby for if that happened.
The population is only going up because Palestinian women have too many children that they can’t take care of , we should send them birth control pills
So much money has been dumped into Gaza that it should be a city like Tel Aviv. This is the fault of Hamas and the PLO. Just look at how good Arafat’s widow is living.
The key to the whole issue is in Genesis Chapt. 12. Gen 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram,
Gen 12:1“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you; Gen 12:2 And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing; Gen 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.
An example is America. Look how blessed she was. Now look at where she is headed. All because of supporting or the lack of supporting Israel.
The world will learn this eventually. Right now, the world hates Israel and there is a devious plot to destroy her, to now avail, though.
Going back to Genesis. Do you really think that we are to get our blessing from Ismael’s side of Abraham.
Just look at what’s happening now.
Israel wishes peace. It take two parties to make peace.
slarv
Modern Israel should not even exist.
When the Bible was written did its author have a direct line-connection to his mystical God or could it be that he was just guessing or, more pertinently, was he (or they, if more than one author) was being political in the never-ending battle for the minds of the people? If Israel desires peace then return the conquered territories. This latest destruction of Gaza is the deliberate attempt to take it over for expansionist purposes. The Jewish people were not the only ones exterminated during WW2 there was over 20 million so why continue to harbour resentment? The Exodus from Egypt was not the only mass movement of people which, incidentally, is still occurring and the settlement of America, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, the Aztec Empire, were others and the current migration into Europe is another so it is still occurring. What then makes the Jews feel so special? Those currently migrating into Europe appear to be religious believers so the propaganda of religion is powerful, political, destructive, and aggressive, yet, ironically, they all take a high moral stand. It sure is a crazy society in which we live.
To correctly answer your question, God wrote the bible through the hand of those He directed. He can tell the things that will be before they happen. Next on the list could be Russia attacking Israel with Iran and others and allies. Ezekiel 38 and 39.
The Bible is a guidebook given to us from outside of our time dimension.
Israel is a tool of His mission.
God wrote the bible? Come on, someone left the gate open, own-up!
Mankind is truly corrupt. Everything he does becomes defiled by the action of man.
Religion, in my definition, if man trying to overcome his deficiency by his own efforts. Thus, we see man’s corruption involved in everything he does.
The plan that came from the God that I believe in states that He made the plan and executed that plan at the cost of His becoming a man and was punished for my and everyone else’s spiritually corrupt lives.
My killing people in the name of my God does nothing to earn me anything. There is nothing I can do to earn IT.
Such is the lie that pervades mankind, work to get to heaven.
Thank you for your response.
It is entirely fault of mass murdering Zionists who steal land. Genesis is all about the children of Abraham of which most are Arabs. Zionists are merely Khazarian thieves and killers and deserve to be removed from the Middle East. As Genesis 20:12 says, Abraham bonked his own sister to produce the first Edomites.
Esau was the father of the Edomites, though you are correct as he is a descendent of Abe. And, as he was united with Isaac, he too, was blessed at his time. The Edomites are still around and hate the Jews, too. Why, such a little patch of land and the people living there should create such a problem for the world.
In the book of Zechariah, the future of Jerusalem is given that really applies to today:
12:2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. Zec 12:3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
Only peace will come when the Prince of Peace comes!
Zionist Israeli Jews want them out so they can take all the land
What a brain. Israel left Gaza complete with agriculture businesses that the Palestinians wasted for PEACE!
Please read some history!
Zionist dirt bags are The NWO!
The first sentence mentioned an org full of CIA controlled NGOs … the UN. U lost credibility after that. Same reason Putin kicked out all those “humanitarians” out of Russia. Sell the bullshit somewhere else … not a US problem. Keep pushing foreign intervention and watch Trump win.
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I’ll taut this as another anti-Israel propaganda piece. The state of order that Gaza’s population has enjoyed can only be contributed to Hamas and the PLO, who are basically at war with each other, too. The populace, to these two organizations, are just, sadly, sub-collateral damage. Arafat’s widow is still living lavishly in Paris on the donated money for the people last I heard. How long has he been dead? The players today would rather build tunnels then new schools, homes and libraries.
If you are going to write a article like this, it is good not to show just one ideology, unless, of course, if you have an agenda.