Right to development denied in Palestine

In Palestine, the main obstacle to realizing the SDGs is the occupation that continues to confiscate lands and, as reported by UNCTAD, deny Palestinians the human right to development. The indicators are alarming: unemployment has reached 27.7 percent in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and 44 percent in the Gaza Strip. The poverty rate for the year has reached 29 percent in 2017 and it is 53 percent in the Gaza Strip, reflecting the catastrophic effect of the 10-year ongoing blockade.

On the other hand, the civil society report by the Al-Marsad Social and Economic Policies Monitor perceives the Palestinian National Authority’s efforts as “reproduction of the same policies and practices”, without the changes that would be required to progress towards the SDGs, ”particularly employment and labor, social protection, progressive taxation, industrial and agricultural development, and public expenditure”. Civil society perceives its space as shrinking, while the Authority “takes control of the judiciary and affiliates with the private sector.”

Source: Palestinian Report 2018.