In this policy brief, Al-Shabaka Policy Fellow Nur Arafeh and Policy Advisors Samia al-Botmeh and Leila Farsakh debunk Israel’s arguments by demonstrating the devastating impact Israel’s settlement enterprise has had on the Palestinian economy, dispossessing Palestinians of their land, water, and other resources and creating mass unemployment.
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The World Bank on Monday announced $5 million worth of funding to go toward job creation across the occupied Palestinian territory. The international finance institution said in a statement that the money would go toward the ‘Development Impact Bonds’ project, aimed at providing private sector skills in Palestinian youth aged 18 to 29 years old. “Jobs are among the most pressing issues in Palestine,” said Steen Lau Jorgensen, the World Bank’s country director for the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
The Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem (OPT), is rich in oil, gas a shale oil resources, al-Haq claims in its 2015 report, Annexing Energy. If these resources were to be developed, Palestine would be economically self-sufficient and relieved from dependence on international aid. However, as expected, Israel has a history of systematically preventing Palestine’s development of oil and gas in the OPT. Since 1967, the OPT’s natural resources have been governed by Israel’s government, allowing Israel to manage its natural resources to the benefit of Israeli citizens and corporations – not the local population.
Through educational events, humanitarian support, and cultural preservation, the Jerusalem Fund is helping build the movement for Palestinian liberation.
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