Publication: West Bank and Gaza Checkpoints and
Barriers : Searching for Livelihoods
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2010-01-01
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2012-03-19
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This report assesses the impact of the movement and access regime in the period 2000-07 on the economy and the working lives of Palestinians, exploring the gender dimension of restrictions on labor force participation, and how new tensions in the arena of work resulting from movement and access restrictions have affected relations between women and men. The findings of this study are based on an analysis of data covering the years 2000 to 2007 and examine the long-term impacts of restrictions on movement and access. As controls on movement became more entrenched following the second intifada, a massive economic decline ensued, leading to a drop in male employment and real wages resulting from job losses in Israel, and a corresponding rise in unemployment. This same period also witnessed a sharp rise in both covert and overt forms of violence. Israeli military incursions, detentions, manned checkpoints, home demolitions, the separation barrier, and the Palestinians' own response spun a web of violence in public and private that touched the everyday lives of all Palestinians. The violence resulting from the occupation has led to loss of life, land, property, and free movement of people, and has fragmented social space, a key source of material and moral support especially for women. With neither Israeli nor Palestinian legal systems able to provide defense or protection, these momentous changes in people's everyday lives created a sense of collapse of the public, social, and moral order against this backdrop, the effects on Palestinian society have been extensive and far reaching, on relations between men and women, on intergenerational relations between the young and the old, on ties of kinship, and on social networks. This study, through qualitative sources, provides insights to a chain of events that have and are moderating social behavior and gender relations associated with work. The study also captures what the deteriorating situation has meant for Palestinian females and males of all ages in terms of their economic engagement, their ability to seek alternate livelihoods, their coping strategies, their social and human investments, and their future aspirations.
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“World Bank. 2010. West Bank and Gaza Checkpoints and
Barriers : Searching for Livelihoods. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2887 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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