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Article: Rural West Bank doomed to poverty by Israeli closures: U.N.
- Article from:
- Arab - American Business
- Article date:
- February 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright AA Business, LLC Feb/Mar 2006. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank (AFP) - Poverty and unemployment in the rural Occupied West Bank are bound to increase unless Palestinians can regain access to markets cut off by Israel, a United Nations report said recently.
The impact of the West Bank separation barrier and network of checkpoints and roadblocks that have sprung up across the occupied territory in the past five years have led to a "de-development" of the economy, according to the report by the office of the U.N. special coordinator (UNSCO).
The report's main author, Francine Pickup, told a press conference in Ramallah that farmers in the West Bank had long been over-dependent on access to markets inside Israel, which have ...