Unemployment in the Palestinian territories has nearly quadrupled since the start of the uprising against Israeli occupation seven months ago, a Palestinian survey said today.
The survey, conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, shows unemployment hit 37.7 per cent in the first four months of 2001, up from 10 per cent when the Palestinian uprising erupted last September.
The survey of 7,495 households in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab East Jerusalem found 297,000 Palestinians were unemployed.
Citing security concerns, Israel imposed a blockade on the Palestinian territories at the start of the revolt, keeping more than 100,000 people from getting to work in Israel.
It recently issued work permits to some 15,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip but only a few thousand use them, an Israeli spokesman said.
Palestinians brand the blockade, which has dealt a near-fatal blow to their fledgling economy, collective punishment.
Said al-Mudallal, director of employment at the Palestinian Labour Ministry, disputed the Israeli figures, saying Israel had re-issued only 3,882 work permits in recent weeks.
The statistics bureau said last week that nearly two-thirds of Palestinians had been plunged into poverty due to the Israeli blockade.
Palestinian officials estimate it has cost them between 2.8 billion and 3 billion.