Child Poverty and Youth Unemployment in Palestine

Abstract

Poverty has been defined as a set of risk factors that damage an individual's mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual development. However, the debate about the effects of poverty on the growth, development, and health of Palestinian youth and children specifically is as much involved with the culture and the economics of poverty as it is with the political context of poverty. This article examines the overall levels, trends, and negative effects of poverty among Palestinian children and youth, identifying the drivers of poverty since the Israeli occupation and its effects on the children and youth residing in the West Bank and Gaza. In addition, it demonstrates the strong links between the political and economic environment and poverty among family and children as well as individual well‐being in the West Bank and Gaza. By examining this important topic, it identifies the main reasons for poverty and clarifies the process by which the Israeli occupation and policies have transformed the Palestinian social and economic structures, thereby adding more constraints on the Palestinian people and government. The time period covered includes the expansion of Israeli occupation, the resultant economic and political hardship, and the rise of the Palestinian intifada as well as the current anti‐poverty programs in place.