GENEVA: International Labour Organisation (ILO) director- general Juan Somavma has issued an appeal to the world community to take steps aimed at staving off the “socio-economic meltdown” of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

The principal measures recommended by the ILO are the easing of border restrictions and the renewal of employment for Palestinian workers in Israeli territory.

Somavma also proposed incorporating new actors — Palestinian and Israeli workers — in the search for a resolution to the ongoing conflict.

“Any resolution of the conflict must be based on dialogue in which the voice of workers in the occupied Arab territories and their families get a fair hearing in order to assist them in their hope of achieving conditions of decent work,” stated the ILO leader, a Chilean national.

“At the same time, the voices of workers in Israel must be heard. No one can be satisfied with the present situation or, worse still, a further escalation of conflict,” added Somavma.

In a report to be presented to the International Labour Conference, slated to meet in Geneva June 3-20, the director- general calls on Israel to ease restrictions on the movement of Palestinian workers.

The socio-economic meltdown in the occupied Palestinian territories, the result of the present stage of the conflict, is complicated by the profound humanitarian crisis that Palestinian families are experiencing, says the report.

The document urges the international community “to support emergency measures aimed at creating jobs and promoting social dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians,” and points out that the situation has “a very negative impact on the Israeli economy” as well.

At the International Labour Conference, Somavma is to present the conclusions of an ILO mission that visited the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights, as well as other locations, from April 27 to May 6.

The report also reflects “the sense of insecurity in Israel” arising from the recent series of suicide attacks.

Regarding the Palestinian people, Somavma said they suffer humiliation and frustration as a result of both the imposed restrictions on movement and Israeli military incursions into their territories.

Using similar terms, United States Assistant Secretary of State for the Middle East, William Burns, spoke in Egypt about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Following a meeting in Cairo with Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, Burns stated that the humanitarian problems and daily humiliations that the common Palestinians suffer are growing worse each day.

The ILO mission to the region found that the “Israeli border closures and check points between the occupied territories and Israel and neighbouring countries had drastically affected the economy of the region.”

Palestinians working in Israel saw their real wages drop nearly 46 percent in 2001 compared to the previous year. The revenues of the Palestinian Authority, which governs part of the territory where Palestinians hope to create a state, dropped more than 70 per cent in that period.

The report also states that the escalation of violence and the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories have caused serious physical damage to infrastructure and farmland.

Reconstruction costs for public and private buildings and infrastructure in the West Bank alone would require 432 million dollars, according to preliminary estimates.

In the Palestinian areas, real gross domestic product (GDP) growth fell 12 percent in 2001 and real gross national income (GNI — a combination of GDP and of income earned abroad, mostly Palestinian workers’ wages earned in Israel) dropped 18.7 percent.

The ILO report states that the portion of the Palestinian population living in poverty — on less than 2.1 dollars per day — rose from 21 percent in 1999 to 33 percent in 2000 and to 46 percent in 2001. Forecasts are that the figure could reach 62 percent this year.

The consequences of the conflict harm Israel as well, according to the text. Israel’s GDP declined 0.5 percent in 2001, after seeing 6.4-percent growth in 2000.

“Palestinian and Israeli populations are paying a very high price for occupation and violence,” says the ILO.

“The economic and social situation in the occupied territories is deteriorating daily with rising levels of poverty and unemployment, which has become in practice a widespread humanitarian crisis.”

“A gradual lifting of the (border) closures would go a long way towards alleviating the dire situation of Palestinian workers and families... and measures to resume employment of Palestinian workers in Israel would serve to reduce the dramatically-high level of unemployment,” recommends the report.

These two measures would mitigate the present crisis and encourage the renewal of talks aimed at a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, concludes the ILO.—Dawn/InterPress News Service.