Since the beginning of 2006, a confluence of factors has contributed to drive the West Bank and Gaza Strip closer to an all-out economic, social and institutional, breakdown.
A crippling fiscal crisis caused by a sharp reduction in vital financial resources; intensified restrictions on the free movement of people, labor, and trade; incessant fragmentation of the Palestinian territorial landscape in the West Bank; escalation of tension and violence with Israel; the isolation of the Gaza Strip; and bitter internal political divisions coupled with intermittent factional infighting were among the principal factors that produced the current conditions of considerable economic distress, human hardships, and social fatigue.
In 2006, a large segment of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza continued to increasingly lack the necessary means to secure acceptable living standards, with dwindling levels of basic services and a virtual absence of personal security. Read more>>
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