Handy solution if the will is there

A recent World Bank report said the people of Gaza are living literally in a pressure cooker ready to explode and wreak havoc on the area at a moment’s notice.

The candid and blunt assessment says that the economy of this 160-square-kilometre territory is destroyed due to the Israeli blockade and the series of wars waged on it by Israel.

The statistics released by the World Bank paint a grim picture of the Gazan economy.

The report confirms that not less than 40 per cent of the people of Gaza live under the poverty line, and that the overall unemployment is about 43 per cent.

Unemployment among the youth is the highest in the world, reaching 60 per cent, a clear recipe for unrest.

The Israeli policies and practices are not only taking a heavy toll on the economy of Gaza, it is also setting the stage for an impending explosion that will not leave Israel unscathed.

With so many youth unemployed, easy victims to prowling extremists or radical dogmatists, Israel should not be surprised to see them turn violent and seeking an armed confrontation with it.

Addressing the situation is simple: The economy of Gaza, which saw its exports virtually disappear and its manufacturing sector shrink by as much as 60 per cent, must be allowed to reconnect with the outside world.

The report makes clear that there is an alternative narrative for Gaza and its people.

The World Bank projects that Gaza’s GDP could have been four times higher if Israel had lifted its strangulation of this Palestinian enclave and ceased launching wars on it every few years.

There was a time when Gaza was on the threshold of a big and promising boom until Israel started a series of wars on it, destroying it almost in its entirety, and applied a crippling blockade, leaving the people with no choice but to become activists.

Still, the situation could still change for the better if Israel allows Gazans breathing space to develop the strip economically and socially. 

Once that happens, the right environment for peace and tranquillity is created, all sides will benefit and the danger of the pressure cooker exploding will be removed.