Development

The recently intensified crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory has exhausted the benefits of development efforts, setting the Palestinian economy ‘on the path of de-development’, warns UNCTAD in its annual report on UNCTAD’s assistance to the Palestinian people.

Today, M�decins Sans Frontieres (MSF) released the ‘Palestinian Chronicles’, a report with first-hand testimonies about the daily life of Palestinian civilians trapped by conflict in Hebron and the Gaza Strip, and whose suffering is generally unknown.

The World Bank is releasing a report entitled “Fifteen Months – Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis” (the Assessment), which surveys the economic impact of the current crisis and proposes a strategy for managing the Palestinian economy in 2002.

CARE International today released preliminary findings from two surveys focusing on the health and nutritional status of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and found that the number of malnourished Palestinian children has increased with 22.5 percent of children under 5 suffering from acute (9.3 percent) or chronic (13.2 percent) malnutrition. The preliminary rates are particularly high in Gaza with the survey showing 13.2 percent of children suffering from acute malnutrition, putting them on par with children in countries such as Nigeria and Chad.

The Palestinian economy is mired in a deep crisis, with unemployment levels rising significantly over the first half of 2002, according to preliminary figures released today by the Office of the United Nations Special Co-ordinator (UNSCO).