Behind his rickety stall at the market in the poor and densely populated Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip, Ahmed Amer, 42, stood staring at the people moving past his stall without casting a glance at his ware.

"The conditions are very difficult and the people have no money even to feed their children," says Ahmed at the interval of hawking with a loudspeaker a sale on the toys he sells, which, as he is aware of, are "luxurious products" for those with meager salaries and work opportunities.

Ahmed, the bread-earner of a seven-member family, used to work in Israel until September 2000 when the borders were closed. Since that he could find no other sources of income but for the current job, out of which, according to him, he could make only a slender income.

In Gaza Strip, an enclave of 1.4 million people, 70,000 men became jobless when Israel sealed off its borders after the eruption of September 2000 Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against Israel.

"What should I do in such a situation? I haven't been into Israel since the beginning of the Intifada. I sold most of my house contents, and spent all my savings over the past seven years, " said Ahmed.

He added that now many Palestinians' lives are dependent on food supplies from international aid organizations, or on getting partial temporary income by working in "Roads Cleaning Programs" funded by European donor countries.

On Tuesday, May 1, the world will be celebrating the Labor Day, while in the Palestinian territories, mainly the poor and densely populated enclave of Gaza Strip, Palestinian workers, who have been on an open-ended holiday since seven years ago, see little cause for celebration.

"There is no job, no income, and our future is bleak, so how do you think we can celebrate this day," said Khaled al-A'ssali, 45 of Gaza. "On May 1, it will be a holiday here, but this would make no difference because most of our days were off over the past several years."

Israel sealed off the borders and prohibited tens of thousands of Palestinian workers from going to Israel for work following a series of suicide bombing attacks carried out by different militant groups.

Khaled Abdel Shafi, a Palestinian economist from Gaza said that the daily income brought by workers into the Palestinian territories from Israel used to reach 3.5 million U.S. dollars.

"Now such an income no longer exists. The daily 3.5 million dollars was a financial liquidity that could flourish the Palestinian economy," said Abdel Shafi.

In addition to barring workers from working in Israel, the Israeli side also cut off the Gaza enclave from the outside world by tightened security measures on crossings between Israel and the Palestinian territories, and thus stifled its economy.

Furthermore, owing to the international sanctions since the taking office of Hamas last year, which remain in place even after the formation of the new unity government, more than 160, 000 public sector employees have joined the unemployment army after the cash-strapped government failed to pay their regular salaries.

A recent report by a Palestinian development body has found out that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) needs 200 million dollars and can only get 60 million dollars of them from the Arab world and local revenues.

Shaher Saed, head of Palestinian Labor Union has warned that the unemployment percentage has exceeded 43 percent and the poverty rates were around 54 percent in the Palestinian territories.

Saed called on the United Nations to carry its humanitarian responsibilities and grant relief to tens of thousands of unemployed Palestinian workers, and consider the Palestinian territories as a "territory of catastrophe."

"Unfortunately, while the world is celebrating this (Labor) day, the Palestinian people are marking the day differently as Israel continues its siege and its air and ground strikes on the Palestinian people," said Saed.

He expressed hope that there could be a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict next year, so that unemployed Palestinian workers would find more job opportunities.

Source: Xinhua