Towards a national plan to confront the food security crisis and high prices

Written by: Wissam Zaghbar

The global food security crisis is no longer far from the territories of the Palestinian Authority, but has affected it and affected the poor and marginalized groups without the government agencies in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip taking urgent and serious measures and measures to save the poor, the needy and those with limited income and to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land in the face of the colonial settler occupation The Israeli apartheid system

The global food security crisis prompted five international organizations to take urgent measures to reduce it, which coincided with US President Joe Biden's announcement of one billion dollars in aid to support food security in the Middle East and North Africa, while the Russian Foreign Ministry held Western countries and the United States responsible for the exacerbation of "security." World Food »as a result of imposing sanctions on it, and in return, decision-makers in Gaza and the West Bank contributed, with limited measures, to protecting the poor and low-income people without improving their standard of living.

The fears of the food security crisis announced by the five international organizations (the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group, the World Food Program, and the World Trade Organization) are due to the disruption of food, fuel and fertilizer markets as a result of the Corona pandemic, and the interruption of supply chains. International supply, the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, remains in place, which negatively affected people who suffer from severe food insecurity to the extent that their lives and livelihoods have become at risk, and their number reached 345 million people in 82 countries, according to the World Food Program.

Perhaps the situation in Palestine seems different from other countries in the region, especially as it suffers under the Israeli occupation that controls resources and crossings, which impedes the creation of any sustainable development, in addition to the linkage of the Palestinian economy with its Israeli counterpart (according to the Paris Economic Agreement) and the irregular transformation of Israel Customs revenues (clearance), which makes it difficult for citizens to be able to coexist with the global food security crisis and the wave of high prices. While the average per capita income in the occupying state is more than 10 times that of the Palestinian Authority, which makes the Palestinian economy hostage to the customs envelope and undermines its ability to develop, grow, and compete as well. ‏

And if we look at the reality of the situation in the territories of the Palestinian Authority, and I mean the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian West Bank, we find that there is a large difference between the average income of a citizen in the West Bank and his income in Gaza. This is evident in the unemployment rate among the labor force (47%) in Gaza compared to (14%) in the West Bank, while the poverty rate in Gaza exceeds the barrier of (60%), and food insecurity is (62%) for more than (80%) of the population depend on humanitarian aid, and what made matters worse was the delay in the disbursement of social affairs allocations, who number about (115) thousand, of whom nearly (85) thousand have been in the Gaza Strip for more than a year, which has exacerbated the rates of poverty, unemployment and insecurity It made the life of the Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, bad and increased their suffering

The high-price crisis did not stop at secondary commodities only, but rather it affected the citizen's food security and affected the basic commodities that are considered food for the poor without any interference from government agencies to stop the high-price bleeding. Imposing it on those with high incomes only, in addition to doubling duties, taxes and import permits, and without providing facilities and tax exemptions for national production to support agriculture, industry and marine fishing.

Statistical numbers and astronomical rates of oppression, hunger and suffering speak for themselves in the territories of the Palestinian Authority, whose successive governments have fallen into the temptation to rely on imports in order to increase (customs) revenues, and not to develop the potentials inherent in the economy in terms of agriculture, industry and trade.

In front of these dangerous data, the responsibility lies with decision makers and policy makers by setting plans, programs and budgets. To provide the foundations for resilience and social protection; To reduce poverty, hunger and oppression in Palestine, especially in the Gaza Strip, which is facing a tragic reality, which requires greater effort from the PA government and the de facto authority to stop the terrible deterioration in all aspects of life. Therefore, an effective and rapid response is necessary to support poor and extremely poor families. And support them by supporting them to obtain their daily sustenance

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The main characteristic for government agencies, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, is to support basic consumer goods, through tax exemption, reduction of customs duties, and control of their prices. investment

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In addition, the responsibility rests with the Palestinian Authority government and the de facto authority, the need to achieve sustainable development goals and move away from patchwork solutions, through short and long-term measures, which include providing immediate support to vulnerable groups and enhancing their food security in order to expand effective and comprehensive social protection systems to ensure livelihood Al-Karim, and following an alternative economic policy, the main axis of which is the transition from a profitable rentier economy to a system of economic policies that depend on local resources and labor and increasing sustainable food production through measures to encourage investment in agriculture and marine fishing. This in itself requires disengagement from economic dependence on the occupation in all its tax, customs and monetary forms.

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The responsibility also rests with trade unions, people's federations, and civil society organizations to raise their voice in the face of the outrageous price hikes, especially with basic commodities, and pressure the government to find serious mechanisms to protect the poor from the negative effects of that.

In conclusion, all the solutions proposed by the two authorities in Gaza and Ramallah will not meet the requirements of the struggle phase that our people are going through, as a phase of national liberation. Therefore, practical steps are required to end the division and rebuild the Palestinian political system by launching a comprehensive national dialogue workshop to reach understandings. National elections to hold comprehensive elections based on democratic, fair and transparent foundations that guarantee the rebuilding of national institutions, enabling us to develop a national strategy that preserves the steadfastness and sacrifices of the people in the face of settler colonial occupation and “apartheid.”

* Palestinian journalist and trade unionist / Gaza Strip