Hanan Ashrawi: Palestinian people in unprecedented poverty

Date: 13 / 11 / 2007 Time: 11:58

Ramallah – Ma'an –

Palestinian Legislative Council member Dr Hanan Ashrawi said on Tuesday that the Palestinian people are suffering a state of unprecedented desperation, unemployment, and poverty.

Ashrawi added that any progress made in the peace process will help relieve the current crisis. She described the current Palestinian situation as the worst in the history of the Palestinian question.

She was speaking during a lecture at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

She explained that about 75% of the Palestinians in Gaza Strip live on foreign aid and that the unemployment rate has risen to 50%.

"Peace and negotiations can't be suspended until all the Palestinian people believe in peace," she said.

Ashrawi is a member of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's Third Way party.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.