Israel's "Autumn Clouds" operation worsens Palestinian economic, social situation

Sitting in his small store in northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun and watching the empty street, fruits and vegetables vendor Ahmed al-Mughrabi desired the visit of customers, who were unlikely to go out for shopping as Israeli military operation continued in this area.

"People here are afraid of coming to buy goods for fear of being hurt by the Israeli fire," al-Mughrabi said, shaking his head slightly.

Al-Mughrabi's town is very near to Beit Hanoun, which is under the Israeli besiege and offensive.

The economic life in northern Gaza Strip suffered a heavy blow as Israeli army started a large-scale military operation, dubbed "Autumn Clouds," from Nov. 1 in this region.

During the last five days of Israeli offensive, the economic sector was badly damaged and business further slow down, as the ongoing violence had led to more general strikes.

Khaled Abdel Shafi, a Palestinian economist from Gaza, said, " The Palestinian territories, mainly the Gaza Strip, have been basically suffering from a difficult and crucial economic situation long before the current military operation started."

Shafi noted that Israel has been imposing an intensive siege on the Gaza Strip for almost eight months "which had severely weakened the Palestinian economy and had increased the rates of unemployment" which had hit 50 percent.

The economist anticipated that the unemployment rate would increase during the ongoing operation.

However, economy is only part of the problem as the Israeli offensive deepened the political rift among the Palestinian people and factions, deteriorating the already confused political situation in the Palestinian territories.

Some radical Palestinian militant groups were not cracked down by the Israeli offensive but strongly rebounded under the pressure.

Abu Hamza, spokesman for the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) told Xinhua on telephone that "the Zionist operation in Beit Hanoun would never break our determination to stop our rockets attacks."

He said his movement and other groups would "revenge for the awful massacres were committed against women and children."

Although Israel said that the aim of the operation is to stem the homemade rocket attacks from the northern Gaza Strip at Israel, the goal seems hard to realize as the Palestinian militants had fired at least 30 homemade rockets at the Israeli towns of Sedrot and Ashkelon recently.

Meanwhile, some mild factions, especially President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, are pushing for the forming of coalition government with national unity.

However, it is difficult for the Palestinian factions to reach consensus on the unity government under the huge outward pressure.

Israel's "Autumn Clouds" operation has killed 48 Palestinians and wounded more than 200 others since it was kicked off on Nov. 1, according to figures issued by official medics.

Palestinian major factions, including Fatah and the ruling party Hamas, have condemned the offensive and called on the international community to stop Israel from the offensive for the sake of the Palestinian people.

Source: Xinhua