Question

1- Economists argue that Palestinian economy is going into Depression others argue its still in

recession …what do you think ? why?

2- Many Palestinian people Claim Corona is not existing , and refuse to accept the idea its dangerous , although all the efforts , programs , awareness campaign s Palestinian government apply , from the presentations you attended about Nudge Book , how do you think Palestinian government must behave toward this Issue ?

Answer 1

The Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza) have been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day war in 1967. As such, Palestinian economy is dependent on Israel as it controls the movement of goods and labour and retains customs revenues. As a result, production capacity and access to natural resources has been significantly reduced and services are by far the most important sector of the economy accounting for nearly 83 percent of GDP. Palestine remains heavily dependent on foreign aid to support the government’s budget and fund infrastructure development.

Palestine has to depend on Isreal for its trading and services opportunity as israel is one of the fastest growing nations whereas palestine is losing its land, GDP and the most of all the people living in it. It became a disputed place and thus the economy also got affected with it.

Statement to the 1^st part of the question which argues about Palestinian economy going to be dipped into depression or else currently in recession.

The economy scale of Palestine is marked by a shrink in the GDP growth year by year. However the if we look at the cultivation and exports of the country which is the mainstay of the economy, we see that Olives, fruit, vegetables, limestone, citrus, flowers, textiles and many more are being gifted in this land and if still the GDP loses its scale it is due to the rate of increasing unemployment within the country which is due to the occupation of Israel. Aslo the Isreal had put on resrictions upon certain works of palestine like Oil Extraction which can give a quite good income to it.

In 2006, the unity of the Palestinian economy was threatened when Israeli ties to the West bank were severed. The following war in 2008–2009 destroyed all economic infrastructure in Gaza, leaving the Palestinian economy without any remaining activity and owing $1.4 billion. The Oslo Accords in 1993 aimed to prevent this, but was unable to keep the Palestinian economy from fluctuating. Currently, the Palestinian economy lives on foreign aid and customs revenue between Israel and Palestine. However, Israeli restrictions fragmented the Palestinian economy and caused and increase in unemployment.

With respect to the economic cost of occupation, the UNCTAD report suggests that occupation has prevented the Palestinian people from developing their oil and natural gas resources in Gaza and the West Bank.

Consequently, the estimated accumulated losses are worth billions of dollars and the associated opportunity cost of forgone development is staggering.

So how can a country prosper if it had so many damages and disputes since ages.

In 2018 and early 2019, the Palestinian economy stagnated, per capita income further fell by 1.7%, unemployment increased, poverty deepened, and the environmental toll of occupation rose in the occupied Palestinian territory (Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem).

Statement to the 2^nd part of the question

The coronavirus outbreak held to have spread to the West Bank on 5 March 2020, beginning the COVID-19 pandemic in Palestine when the Greek tourists came for tour. Later on it worsened when it spreaded in the refugee camps.

Israel's decades-long occupation of the West Bank has left Palestinians here with no control over their borders and resources and has also handicapped Palestinian leaders in the fight to contain the virus. The Palestinian government has been in a fiscal crisis for over two years. It forecasts that its revenues will drop by 40 percent over the next three months if the outbreak remains at a similar level.

The Palestinian health sector is already stretched to the limit.There are 210 intensive care units in all Palestinian hospitals, half of them already occupied. Hence the govt. Is struggling hard to provide basic health care to its citizens due to poor economy growth.

It is not possible to tell how many people will get infected over time, when hundreds, if not thousands, keep crossing from and into Israel and its settlements.