Expressing concern over Israel’s extensive destruction of agricultural land and orchards in occupied Arab territories, the General Assembly would call on that country not to exploit, damage, cause loss, deplete or endanger natural resources in those territories, according to one of six draft resolutions approved today by the Second Committee. Approving that draft by a recorded 144 votes in favour, the Committee recommended that the Assembly reaffirm the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the population of the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources, including land and water. Read more about UN calls upon Israel not to exploit natural resources in occupied territory 

Four years since the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000, the Palestinian economy continues to be mired in deep recession, according to a World Bank report released today. The third in a series of reports that examine the impact of the socio-economic crisis in the West Bank and Gaza reveals that although the Palestinian economy recovered in 2003, this upturn is short-lived. The economy remains severely depressed compared with the pre-intifada period, with closures stifling economic activity and restricting the movement of people and goods. Read more about Worldbank: "Nearly half of Palestinian population lives in poverty" 

What petroleum is to Saudi Arabia, olive oil is to Palestine. Olives are a staple crop to the rural Palestinian communities traditionally dependent on agriculture. Olive groves represent over 40% of the cultivated area in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and represent almost 80% of the cultivated fruit trees. Each day during the olive harvesting season here in Palestine the media is full of stories of olive oil farmers and olive pickers being harassed, detained, robbed, violently attacked, critically wounded and in some cases even being shot and killed while attempting to harvest their olives on their own land. In the last four years, Israeli forces have uprooted almost 400,000 olive trees with a value of over US$ 60 million. Read more about Olive oil harvest continues to face challenges for Palestinian farmers 

Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian territories and its destruction and exploitation of their resources had brought the Palestinian economy to the brink of collapse, the Observer for Palestine said this morning as the Second Committee began its discussion of permanent sovereignty of Arab peoples in occupied lands over their natural resources. She said Israel had continued unlawfully to confiscate Palestinian land, build and expand its illegal settlements and bypass roads and raze agricultural land and productive trees. Israel had diverted water, destroyed irrigation wells and flattened, since 2000, more than half of the fertile land in Beit Hannoun, a major agricultural area in northern Gaza. Read more about Israel bringing Palestinian economy to brink of collapse 

Many Gazans have traditionally depended on the sea for their livelihood. Of the estimated 1.3 million people living on the Strip, some 40,000 live off fishing. But Israeli restrictions on the movement of Palestinian fishermen over the past three years have left many destitute, including Sad. Since 2002, Gaza fishermen have been banned from going beyond six nautical miles from the shoreline. There have been long periods when that distance was cut in half and in southern areas of Gaza , like the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, fishing has frequently been totally banned. Read more about Safety net for Palestinian fishermen 

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics conducted another round of the survey on the impact of Israeli measures on the economic conditions of Palestinian households. Data collection was conducted in the second quarter of 2004. The survey found that 226,000 Palestinian households lost more than 50 percent of their usual income and about 22.6 percent of Palestinian households in the Gaza Strip suffered from highly critical living conditions. The survey indicates that 59.7 percent of Palestinian households decreased their income during the Intifada of which 62.5 percent lost more than half of their usual income. Read more about Survey: 70 percent of Palestinian households need assistance 

Unless immediate action is taken to improve the supply capacity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the Palestinian economy will be effectively transformed into one of subsistence, warns a new UNCTAD study.  The study notes that the protracted conflict in the occupied Palestinian territory has generated profound structural distortions and changes in the functioning of these enterprises that are unlikely to be reversed once political stability is achieved. It examines the SMEs’ contribution to economic growth by shedding light on their life cycle and the factors influencing their establishment, survival, growth and decline before and after the ongoing crisis. Read more about UNCTAD stresses vital role of small-, medium-sized enterprises in rehabilitation of Palestinian economy