§ Ann ClwydTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the impact the division of the occupied Palestinian territories into eight separate cantons has had on the humanitarian situation in the OPT. [64320]
§ Clare ShortReports estimate that 50 per cent. of the population are currently living in poverty (under $2 a day), and per capita income continues to decline significantly. On-going and intensified Israeli restrictions will exacerbate this situation—restricting movement of people to work and products to markets, prohibiting access to basic services such as health and education, increasing unemployment, substantially reducing the ability of the Palestinian Authority to sustain essential social services, and inhibiting the work of international organisations and aid agencies.