UNDP - Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People

Crisis Prevention and Recovery

UNDP/PAPP has worked extensively in this field to assist people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to recoup losses incurred in times of crisis and conflict, and to strengthen and implement policies and programmes that incorporate conflict prevention and peace-building perspectives.

In accordance with changing circumstances, PAPP is scaling up its engagement in strategic analysis and Conflict Prevention and Recovery (CPR) initiatives, with the support of BCPR. The overall purpose is to contribute to creating an environment more conducive to peace building processes through relevant development initiatives. It is foreseen that these initiatives may subsequently form the basis of a framework agreement between PAPP and BCBR. The main areas of interventions are the following:

Knowledge Development. Most of the development community worldwide has started to recognize the need of adapting the development formulas to the specific conflict context in order to avoid doing harm. A Conflict and Socio-Development Assessment, CSDA, will be launched , focusing on the identification of main issues pertaining the conflict and the suitability of the developmental strategies currently applied.

Dialogue, consensus building: In the last two years, the Palestinian context has been characterized by internal fragmentation and polarization, which deteriorate the environment for peace making and restrain the perspectives of conflict transformation. With the purpose to promote discussions and debate among key national stakeholders (civil society and political organizations) PAPP is initiating a project in partnership with the Carter Center and a national counterpart, on electoral reform issues. In the middle range it is expected to contribute to diffuse the culture of polarization and fragmentation and provide some spaces to develop a culture of consensus and national cohesion.

Youth: Under a context characterized by violence, the youth are one of the most vulnerable sectors. In oPt, there are a vast number of youth organizations however most of their initiatives are dispersed and they do not feed into each other. PAPP is launching a project with the purposes of mapping the youth initiatives across the oPt, detecting the main potentialities and provide policy and programming recommendations to the civil society but also to the Palestinian Authority in order to formulate a proper youth strategy.

Overview of Current Situation

The crisis situation that has characterised the situation in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip since the occupation began in 1967, has worsened since the outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000. The Middle East peace process still stands at the cross roads after the Annapolis negotiations. This not withstanding, some systematic developments have been taking place in the West Bank under the leadership of President Abbas and Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad.

On 19.06.2008, an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire took effect between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Government of Israel, significantly decreasing Israeli-Palestinian violence in Gaza and Southern Israel. The ceasefire has eased the humanitarian situation, and increased some imports, but Gaza does remain under siege. The importation of most industrial inputs has not yet been allowed, and Gaza is not allowed to export, thereby denying its population a major source of income. Shortage of fuel, electricity, medical equipment, and recently banknotes, have severely reduced the capacity of the Gaza economy to function.

As a result of failure to extend a six months truce between Hamas and Israel in 2008, the Israeli military, on the morning of December 27th 2008, started a military operation on the Gaza Strip. Israeli war planes and artillery have targeted a wide range of facilities and inflicted large scale human losses and infrastructure damage on the already impoverished and isolated population of the Strip. Over 1000 Palestinians have lost their lives and thousands have been wounded. The majority of public and government institutions including municipalities, ministries, and police and civil defense stations have been destroyed, depriving the population of basic services.

The conflict has become part of daily life in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), which has resulted in crippling effects on the social, economic, and political life of the Palestinians.

Socio - Economic Situation
The Palestinian economy has been affected by the political developments in the last years as a result of the Israeli occupation. Some factors point to the fact that, even under great efforts exerted by the PA and the international community, it still performs classically as an economy under occupation: the currency used by Palestinians is the New Israeli Shekel; there is a customs union between Israel and the oPt; the cash flows are agreed on by Israeli banks; Israel is imposing non tariff barriers on the exports of Palestinian goods which make their products non competitive; Palestinian access to natural resources and assets, mainly water and land is restricted(60% of the West Bank is Area C, there is no commercial use for Gaza port and the sea is only accessible for Palestinians within 3 nautical miles); the lucrative market of East Jerusalem is not accessible to Palestinian services and products; the economy is very sensitive to economic decisions taken by Israel, such as the number of permits issued to Palestinian workers to enter Israel; local production has been diminished due to the difficult accessibility and mobility of the internal market and it has been replaced by imports, mostly from Israel; just to give some examples.
Also, the Israeli occupation has institutionalized a territorial fragmentation which has had a high impact on production and commercial networks. In fact, in the oPt there are mainly three economic zones whose separation is increasing: the Gaza Strip, with an economy based on the informal market of merchandise coming through the tunnels, industrial activity close to zero, economic infrastructure largely depleted and levels of poverty and unemployment unseen in decades; the West Bank, with better economic indicators due to more favorable political circumstances, but a network of largely disconnected economic areas dotted with hundreds of impediments to movement and access, where most of its resources are not accessible; and East Jerusalem, with an economy completely isolated from Palestinian life and annexed to the Israeli market and its dynamics.

In this context, however, in the last year the Palestinian economy has seen a slight recovery: 6.8 GDP growth for 2009 (8.5% in the West Bank and 1% in the Gaza Strip, no data for East Jerusalem), and estimates for the first half of 2010 are at 8%. The reasons for this are:

unprecedented aid inflows from donors in the last years (budget support in 2009 was US$ 1.4 billion, US$ 1.8 billion in 2008 and US$ 525 million for the first half of 2010 according to World Bank figures; the total donor support for 2009 was 2.4 US$, according to UNCTAD). This can be easily traced when analyzing the sectors driving this economic recovery: public sector services and construction, while agriculture, manufacturing and private sector services decrease;
The previous levels of poor economic performance: the per capita GDP remains more than 30% lower than its level in 1999 and the economy in Gaza is extremely with unemployment rates at around 39% and 80% of households below the poverty line, in comparison to 15% and 45% respectively in the West Bank.
Some relaxation on Israeli mobility restrictions within/to/from the West Bank.

However, this economic growth, coincident with the ongoing political negotiations, is not sustainable without a political settlement that paves the way for a real and solid growth which is not based mainly on external assistance, with Israel taking serious measures to lift the restrictions on economic activity.

Protection of civilians in the West Bank continue to be a challenge. While the number of Palestinian fatalities decreased, there was a sharp rise in the number of those injured by Israeli security forces, with the majority of casualties occurring during anti-Barrier protests. Palestinian freedom of movement within the West Bank remains very constrained. A water crisis emerged during the summer due to a drought compounded by an increase in demand for water during the season.

The harsh economic and social conditions, coupled with lack of progress on the peace front, is potentially explosive and is contributing towards the destruction of the social fabric of the society.