September 2002 will mark two years of Israeli attacks and months of closures imposed by the Israeli government on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As a result of Israel's continual practice of collective punishment and violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the entire Palestinian population will continue to suffer from the effects of the curfew-psychologically, physically and economically.

Ariel Sharon's declared aim of destroying the "Palestinian terrorist infrastructure" is in fact destroying the whole Palestinian population. The Palestinian economic life suffers through Israel's continual closure of international borders; neighboring countries and; sealing off the Gaza Strip and West Bank from Israel and occupied east Jerusalem.

The 120 Israeli checkpoints scattered throughout the Occupied Territories has divided the West Bank into 300 separate clusters and the Gaza Strip into 3 separate clusters.

Israel's siege and closure have had a devastating economic impact on the Palestinian people since the start of September 2002. Salary wages of the 125,000 Palestinians who used to work in Israel before the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which constituted 25% of the labor income of the Palestinian economy, have evaporated. Internal movement restrictions are severely disruptive for business, and poverty and unemployment levels have dramatically increased to 50% and 39.8%, respectively.

As of July 2002, the total income loss to the Palestinian economy is estimated between USD 2.4 - 3.2 billion. (This figure refers to income only and does not include the cost of destruction of public and private property). The daily domestic loss is averaged to be between USD 6.0 - 8.6 million for each business day. The total wage income loss is USD 59.4 million. The unemployment rate in Gaza has reached 67% and in the West Bank it has reached 48%. Nearly 75% of the Palestinian population is living in poverty, which comes out to less than $2 a day. Economic losses have forced 69% of Palestinian firms either to shut down or reduce production, a 51% drop in GNP.

The World Bank estimates that in the case of a resolution to the conflict and lifting of the closures in the West Bank and Gaza strip, it will take at least 2 years for the Palestinian economy to restore to a pre-Intifada per capita income level.