Palestinians Struggle With Years of Unemployment

by Ferry Biedermann

The squatters are out of work. Many have been without a job for two years. They have to feed large families, and they are at the end of their tether. They want their government, the Palestinian Authority (PA), to take care of them.

"Israel is the enemy and we expect that they try to make our lives difficult," says Hassan Khaled Hassanein, a 39-year-old father of 11 who has been mostly without work since the start of the intifada two years ago. "But the PA has a responsibility for us, we expect them to help us."

While in New York, the quartet of international mediators -- the U.S., the UN, the European Union and Russia -- met to discuss ways of encouraging reforms in the PA, the pressure from inside seemed more dramatic. The militants who want to continue with the intifada and the PA both have more to fear from Palestinians than from international mediators.

At the start of the intifada, Israel closed its borders to about 120,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza strip working mainly in construction, services and agriculture. The loss of income also affected jobs in Palestinian territories, where spending plummeted.

"Many people had some money saved," says Hassanein. "First people lived off their savings, then they sold their wives' gold. I sold everything myself, and then I took out a loan."

The people in the tents say their protest has no political background but the anger towards the PA is palpable. "How come they already complain when the police get their salaries a month late," says a protester. "We haven't had salaries in two years."

Another doubts the honesty of the PA. "We see the Arab countries on television pledging so much money but none of it reaches us," he says. "The PA still has money for salaries and they still can afford fuel for their cars."

The situation is worsened by government-owned utilities companies who cut off services to people who do not pay their bills. "How can they cut off the electricity to someone's house when he has no work and he has to take care of 12 people," says Hassanein.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) provides some aid but it is inadequate. Aid comes also from Islamic organizations, some of whom have increased food distribution tenfold since the beginning of the intifada.

Hassanein voted for Yasser Arafat six years ago but now says he regrets it. He is not sure he will support the Islamists in elections due at the beginning of next year. He does not care about politics anymore.

"We want an opportunity to work, even if that means in Israel, otherwise the PA should guarantee our minimum existence," he says. "People are now willing to make a deal with the devil if it gives them enough money to survive."

Rasem Al Bayari who heads the Trade Unions Federation in Gaza, says "we do whatever we can but there is just no money." Al Bayari who is affiliated with the PA and Fatah, says Arab countries have pledged more money than they have sent.

Al Bayari proclaims the solidarity of the Palestinian people. "We are all united in our support for the intifada," he insists. The desperate economic situation is not a threat to the continuation of the struggle, he says.

But when elections are mentioned, he acknowledges the dire situation the PA finds itself in. "Why insist on election now?" he asks. "The people are angry, the result will only be that they choose more extremist leaders."

Hamas, the militant Muslim organization that has taken a lead in the fight against Israel, has a different take on the situation. Ismail Abu Shanab, a senior spokesman, says Hamas is not interested in political gain at the moment. "Of course people identify the good work that the Islamic foundations do with Hamas," he says. But he insists that politics is not behind the charity.

Hamas is acutely aware of the pressures building up in the streets and of the possibility that economic pressure may force people to abandon the intifada. But that point has not yet arrived, he says.

At Hassanein's house, the talk is not of politics but of food and the lack of it. He steps into his house past the meat that the butcher shop below has hung out. "That is the only meat we see," he says. And there is no ice cream for the children. Food and ice cream are available, but most people just do not have the money to buy them.