Economic crisis looms large in Gaza

This comes against the backdrop of the ailing financial status of the Palestinian Authority and the suffocating blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel.

Professor of economics Moeen Rajab says the western backed Palestinian Authority receive most of its finances from donor countries.

Although there are two different Palestinian governments one in Gaza run by Hamas and the other in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip is highly dependent on money coming from the West Bank as there are at least sixty thousand employees in Gaza who receive their paychecks from the West Bank government.

Israel has restricted the movement of people and goods in the West Bank and in Jerusalem al-Quds and prevented the import of raw material for factories in Gaza.

Nowadays manufacturing in the Gaza Strip is almost nonexistent.

Some analysts say the so-called Oslo accords which stipulate the nature of the economic relations between Israel and the Palestinian authority are the core of Palestinian problems.

According to the U.N, Israeli blockade on Gaza by land, air and sea has led to one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.

Experts say that without the impediments imposed by Israeli occupation forces, the ailing Palestinian economy would gradually recover.