From the Electronic Intifada…

Approximately 100,000 Palestinian workers in the Gaza Strip have been cut off from their work in Israel since the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000, creating large-scale unemployment in the 360-square kilometer coastal Strip.
This unemployment rate has doubled with the imposition of an international economic embargo after a Hamas-led government took power following the January 2006 parliamentary elections.
Rasem Albayary, head of the Palestinian Labor Union, says that the Israeli government’s policies are responsible for the current deterioration in all labor sectors.
“Since the second intifada in late 2000, the Israeli authorities have closed the crossings, barring the access of workers to many sectors such as farming, industry and construction, to the extent that I recall that the days of closure mounted to 220 in one of the previous years,” Albayary states.
He explains that now with the continued economic embargo and closure by Israel of crossing points, the poverty rate has soared to about 85 percent, while the industrial, farming and fishing sectors have been greatly affected as more than 350 factories have been closed, leaving thousands of workers jobless.

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