Israel Crushing Middle-class
Palestinians
22 Jan 2012By Khalid Amayreh
The slow economic collapse being witnessed
across the occupied territories, while worsening now,
is inevitable so long as Palestinians languish under
occupation, writes Khaled Amayreh in Hebron
With high consumer prices, static or dwindling
salaries, rising unemployment and over-taxation, many
ordinary Palestinians are no longer able to make ends
meet.
The situation has been described as both explosive as
well as potentially destabilising as the Palestinian
Authority (PA) stands virtually powerless to overcome
or even mitigate the harshest economic crisis hitting
the occupied territories since the PA's founding in
1994.
Some families have been forced to take their children
out of college because they can no longer afford to
pay tuition fees amounting to a thousand dollars per
semester.
During Yasser Arafat's era, somewhat generous
subsidies were paid to universities, enabling poor
students to pursue college education even if they
didn't pay tuition. However, nearly all subsidies and
student loans have now ceased, leaving a crippling
effect on the financial wellbeing of many institutions
of higher learning.
An official from Al-Quds University at Abu Dis near
Jerusalem told Al-Ahram Weekly last week that, "only
the rich can now afford to get a college education; if
you don't have the money, you simply can't register in
college, even if you happen to be brilliant and have
high scores."
The situation becomes even harsher when a given family
has two, or three, or even four who want a college
education. In this case, the choices become stark and
harsh, as the family is forced to choose between
putting food on the table on the one hand and having
their children educated on the other.
Traditionally, Palestinians attached enormous
importance to education, viewing it as a secure
investment for the future. Hence the frustration and
desperateness exuded by poor families unable to pay
rising tuition fees for their children.
What is especially sad is the fact that those students
who are refused entry to college because they can't
afford tuition often seek employment in Jewish
settlements. They say they have no choice and the PA
seems to silently agree with them.
This is especially disturbing as the expansion of
Jewish colonies is considered the single biggest
threat to Palestinian dreams for a viable independent
state on the West Bank and Gaza.
But if one can survive without receiving a college
degree, one definitely can't survive without food.
According to consumer prices data, food prices in the
occupied Palestinian territories are amongst the
highest in the world. And when one combines high food
prices with ever-soaring inflation, the situation
becomes untenable.
For example, a kilogramme of rice is sold at a dollar
and a half in the West Bank, while a kilo of sugar is
sold at nearly two dollars.
Similarly, a standard cooking gas (butane) cylinder
(12 kilogrammes) is sold at 75 Shekels or $21. As to
fuel, a litre of unleaded gasoline is sold at $1.80
while a litre of diesel has reached $1.70. The overall
outlook becomes ever bleaker if we remember that the
average monthly salary for most Palestinian civil
servants doesn't exceed $600-700. In comparison, the
annual per capita income in Israel reaches $20,000.
So no matter how hard one would try to tighten one's
belt and adopt the severest austerity measures, one
would still be at loss as to how to make ends meet.
This week, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
appeared on television to explain to the public the
financial plight besetting the PA. He said his
government was trying to do the utmost to keep the
situation under control. He vowed to help the "weakest
sectors of society," saying he won't allow electricity
and water supplies to be cut off from those who can't
pay the bills.
The problem, however, is that his "utmost" and best
efforts may not be sufficient or good enough to bring
solace to tens of thousands of families, thoroughly
crushed, even to the point of starvation, by the
present economic crisis.
Fayyad said his government would soon impose taxes on
those untaxed or under-taxed, stressing that the new
taxes wouldn't hurt the poor. However, some economists
have already dismissed the new taxation plans as
"deformed and inequitable".
"These are basically deformed plans which will make
our taxation system even more deformed and more
unjust," said Nasser Abdel-Karim, professor of
economics at Birzeit University.
Many PA officials go to great lengths to justify the
current policy outlook, giving economic data and
explaining how the Palestinian economy can't stand on
its own feet. However, only few would be honest enough
to face the fact that a truly viable and prosperous
economy is impossible under foreign military
occupation. The two are simply an oxymoron.
Such an economy inherently lacks the oxygen to grow
and prosper, which means that Palestinians, including
Prime Minister Fayyad, would be deceiving and cheating
themselves if they thought they could attain their
economic goals while nearly every aspect of their
life, economic and otherwise, is still tightly
controlled by Israel.
Another relevant issue that should be kept in mind is
the fact that the financial survival of the PA depends
to a very large extent on politically motivated
donations or aid from Western countries, especially
the United States. Many pundits understand that
Western aid to the PA, that prevents the Ramallah
regime from reaching complete financial collapse, is
inextricably tied to political conditions that keep
the PA in a perpetual state of subservience to Israel.
This, some commentators argue, suggests that the PA
should ask itself some really hard questions regarding
the wisdom of its very existence under current
circumstances whereby it is burdened with the task of
catering for five million people while being utterly
deprived of basic financial and economic freedoms that
would enable it to carry out this task properly. (end)
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