I found the following article on the BBC just the other day. It talks about the economic state of a town in the West Bank called Jenin- which incidentally is where the director of the student center I’m working at is from. I think it’s about an hour or so north of where I’m staying. Anyway, it’s worth a read to get a feel for what life is like for some people in the territory.
“Jenin and surrounding villages used to rely on three main activities, agriculture, labouring jobs in Israel and employment in the Palestinian Authority. But the area is now sealed off from Israel by the West Bank barrier, water is scarce for irrigation and the PA has little money to pay employees.
Unemployment has reached 90% in some villages, poverty levels have risen “dramatically” in the words of the World Bank, and the average annual income has fallen by nearly a third since 1999. “
For the rest click here.
