Roundup: Poor Gazans ask for work permits in Israel amid deteriorating economy

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, October 8, 2021
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GAZA, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Palestinians gathered for the second day in a row in front of the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce in the city of Gaza to apply for work permits inside Israel.

The Palestinians, most of whom are suffering from poverty, said they came there to have their voices heard that they wanted to work in Israel to avoid poverty.

In 2007, Israel imposed a tight blockade on the coastal enclave, home to more than two million people, right after the Islamic Hamas movement forcibly seized it. The blockade has deteriorated the economic situation in the Strip, where many residents live in severe poverty.

The poverty rate among the residents of the Gaza Strip rose to 53 percent and the extreme poverty rate reached 33.8 percent, according to the latest official statistics issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

"For more than three years, I could not buy any clothes for my three kids," Mohammed al-Zaharna, a resident from Gaza, told Xinhua.

The 38-year-old driver said he graduated from university in 2009 while his wife graduated in 2010, but they have not found any jobs to keep their family afloat.

Moen Awwad, a 52-year-old carpenter from Gaza, told Xinhua that he was lucky to work inside Israel 17 years ago.

The father of nine said he built his four-floor house with the money he earned in Israel. "I was taking about 120 U.S. dollars a day, but now I make about 200 U.S. dollars a month," he added.

Awwad hopes he could return to Israel to make decent money again. "I need to build my sons' future as my father did for us by working inside Israel," he said.

Before 2005, Israel allowed the Gazan workers to work inside its cities based on the Paris Economic protocol signed between the Israelis and the Palestinians in 1994.

More than 12,000 Gazans worked then in Israel, contributing about 20 percent of the total of the national economy in Gaza, according to Moen Rajab, a Gaza-based economist.

"If Israel allows workers to work inside it again, it will be a step that would achieve the interests of both sides," he said, adding that "Israel needs qualified workers and it will also help the Palestinians, who will be able to overcome poverty and get a dignified life."

He added this will have a direct impact on the national economy in the Gaza Strip and will continue to pump liquidity into the markets, which means that the Strip will witness a recovery of commercial activity. Enditem

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