The recent increase in the number of check points, as well as the devastating consequences brought on by the latest Israeli Cast Lead Operations on the Gaza Strip, are affecting the life of the Palestinians in many different ways. The Palestinian economy is a "stifled economy" where the occupation is exacerbating the level of poverty and unemployment, and decreasing the standard living of the people.
The domestic food production has declined and the danger of "Food Insecurity" is now more imminent than ever. Food Insecurity has greatly increased since the Second Intifada, which brought about the notoriously severe movement and access restrictions. Haneen, a researcher of the Palestinian Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), explain that "before the last few years food aids and food security in the Region were not an issue".
What is Food Security in Palestine?
The crowded markets in the main cities of the West Bank are not really a sign that the food is readily available. The definition of Food Security refers not only to food availability, but also to accessibility, stability and utilization (World Food Summit '96). It means that even if the food is available, there are individuals who do not have adequate access to food resources to meet their needs. The likelihood for such shocks, as the loss of income as a consequence of the movement restrictions or the sudden closure of important transit ways for basic goods, makes the access to food resources insecure. The "utilization" point refers to the consumption of food with adequate sanitation and clean water.....that is notably one of the main problems in the Region.
An International survey conducted in May 2008 (FAO) found that 38% of Palestinian households have limited access to food resources, while that percentage has risen up to 70% in the Gaza Strip after the last Israel operation.
There are multiple conflict-related factors that have contributed to the current situation. First of all, the Israeli measures and policies led to the loss of a lot jobs.
For example the construction of the wall resulted in many Palestinians who used to work as labor force in Israel, not being granted permission anymore. Many of these people immediately tried to find a new source of income in agriculture that seemed at the time the only possible solution.
But from 2000 to 2007, the Israeli Government allowed the destruction of 2.851dunums of land, 13,147 dunums of vegetables and 14,076 dunums of Palestinian field crops. Over the course of the past five years, the Israeli Occupation Authorities have destroyed 455 wells, 37,929 dunums of irrigation network, 1,000 km of main pipelines, 1,9 km of irrigation pools, 930 agricultural stores and 1,862 of animal barns and stables. In the same period 1,6 million of Palestinian trees have been uprooted, further jeopardizing Palestinian food production.
The worst situation is obviously in the Gaza Strip, where most of the farmlands are now destroyed and the fishing industry is now very compromised.
Trees inside the Wall?
Potential productive agricultural areas are often isolated from the markets, facing an increasing number of people reliant on food aids. The food is mainly available in the cities or in the productive areas and not elsewhere, but also in rural areas a weak harvest means that those families become reliant on food aid.
But the situation has also deteriorated due to other different difficulties. First of all the impact of the international economy from the end of 2007, but also the deficiencies in Public Structures in a hostile environment with adverse climatic conditions and inappropriate soil pose another problem.
Food prices in Palestine have been dramatically affected by the increase of the global food prices over the last two years. But while the situation is coming back to normality in most of the other developed countries, in Developing Countries in general, and in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, the food prices of domestic production remain too high as a consequence of the high "transaction costs" resulting from the Occupation and from the policies described above (restriction of movement or waiting at the check points).
One of the direct consequences of this context is that imported food is cheaper that the domestic low production: the markets are crowded by Israeli fruits and vegetables, fostered by lower costs production in a "free environment" and the larger size of the farms with great scale economy. If the domestic production is not competitive in Palestine, it is not even possible to encourage the local sector for international trade due to the absence of International Quality Certificates. Indeed, another consequence of the Occupation is that responding and efficient governance cannot exist in a land without governance outside of the cities. There is not yet a law on International Trade Standards as well as there are no labs nor knowledge necessary to meet those certifications.
All those factors today discourage people from working in agriculture. According to the MAS data the agricultural sector has felled to represent now only the 8% of the GDP, while the number of people dependant on food aid have risen in Palestine.
Haneen, describes also a coming emergency situation that is now involving the international food sector, and consequently the Palestinian agriculture and the Food Security of the Region.
A new kind of diseases is affecting the fruit trees also in the Occupied Territories: olives, almonds, dates, figs and grapes that are the main produce here, and 66% of those trees are affected.
Even if there are not calculations of monetary losses in Palestine, at international level had been estimated that between 30% and 40% of the food production will be lost, affecting again the sector and the food availability in rural areas.
Haneen explains how the primary sector is strategic in sustaining families living in rural areas with no access to the main markets: these families are permanently at risk to become Food Insecure.
If most of the national and international institutions and organizations that are working in the Holy Land agree on the importance of the economy and the improvement of the living standard as the key to a better situation, the solutions would seem to be closer.