Thursday, February 22, 2007
UN alarm at Palestinian poverty - BBC News
... At the same time large, extended Palestinian families are rallying as they traditionally do to support their weakest members.
And many of Gaza's poor are doing everything they can to help themselves.
The Iyad family is raising rabbits. And sometimes the children go out selling on the streets.
But this is a family with a special problem. It is locked in a feud with another clan.
Mrs Iyad's husband, Sami, would risk being killed if he left the house. He has not been able to drive his taxi for a year.
Confrontations of this kind are all part of the deepening poverty and rising social tensions in Gaza.
The feuds have become increasingly common and more and more violent as law and order has gradually broken down.
Mrs Iyad has been unable to find work herself and she says that she would sell anything in the house if it was worth selling.
This is a common response to the economic crisis.
The WFP report talks of families selling off their most prized assets - like work tools and even land.
And many months ago desperate women began cashing in their jewellery at the gold market.
The UN says that extreme coping mechanisms like these can only be stretched so far.
Ultimately, the report says, there have to be political solutions that eventually give rise to economic growth.
... At the same time large, extended Palestinian families are rallying as they traditionally do to support their weakest members.
And many of Gaza's poor are doing everything they can to help themselves.
The Iyad family is raising rabbits. And sometimes the children go out selling on the streets.
But this is a family with a special problem. It is locked in a feud with another clan.
Mrs Iyad's husband, Sami, would risk being killed if he left the house. He has not been able to drive his taxi for a year.
Confrontations of this kind are all part of the deepening poverty and rising social tensions in Gaza.
The feuds have become increasingly common and more and more violent as law and order has gradually broken down.
Mrs Iyad has been unable to find work herself and she says that she would sell anything in the house if it was worth selling.
This is a common response to the economic crisis.
The WFP report talks of families selling off their most prized assets - like work tools and even land.
And many months ago desperate women began cashing in their jewellery at the gold market.
The UN says that extreme coping mechanisms like these can only be stretched so far.
Ultimately, the report says, there have to be political solutions that eventually give rise to economic growth.
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