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A powder-keg waiting to explode

That things are going from bad to worse in Gaza seems beyond doubt. 40 years after first being occupied, not only are Palestinians fighting amongst themselves but Isreal continues its relentless attacks on Palestinians and the general infrastructure in the territory. Now comes news that the US is funding the Fatah Abbas "camp" in the dispute between Hamas and Fatah. Of course the US and many European countries simply do not recognise Hamas even if they were democratically elected.

As CommonDreams reports [reproducing a piece from Inter Press Service] the position of people in Gaza is getting increasingly worse. There can be little doubt, as most sensible commentators report, that Gaza is a powder-keg waiting to explode:

"Workers in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel have suffered another year of drastic decline in living standards and rising poverty, unemployment, social disintegration and political chaos, the ILO said in a new report.

The proportion of households below the poverty line increased 26 percent between March 2006 and March 2007, according to the report released Monday, which is based on the findings of high-level missions sent by the ILO (International Labour Organisation) in April to Israel and the occupied Arab territories.

Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) dropped 40 percent in those areas between 1999 and 2006.

Seven out of 10 households, comprising around 2.4 million people, are living in poverty in the occupied territories, says the report, which will be studied at the May 30-Jun. 15 sessions of the International Labour Conference, held every year in Geneva.

Only one out of three people in the territories work, while “two out of three persons are without employment, either because they are unemployed or because they are outside the labour force,” says the report. Around 206,000 people are unemployed, equivalent to 24 percent of the workforce.

ILO Director General Juan Somavía said the situation in the occupied territories is “desperate”. The violence has not ceased, and continues to affect both Palestinian and Israeli civilians, although to differing degrees of intensity, he said."

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