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Palestinian
children suffer under a deteriorating economy under the Israeli
occupation
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, August 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Suffering
under the Israeli occupation and curfew that led to a falling economy
in the Palestinian territories, a Palestinian father of seven from
Rafah published an advertisement in the paper offering his children
for sale or adoption because he could no longer feed them.
The
man was forced by his family and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to
publish an apology in a Palestinian newspaper on Wednesday, August 21,
reported the Jerusalem Post.
Ahmed
Dahir, 44, published the front-page advertisement, entitled
“Children for sale or adoption,” in Al-Hayat al-Jadeedah
earlier this week.
Thousands
of unemployed Palestinians have been staging demonstrations outside PA
ministries in the Gaza Strip to protest the economic crisis.
The
Israeli reoccupation of the Palestinian cities, along with the Israeli
government decisions to freeze Palestinian money have left the
Palestinians in a financial, as well as humanitarian crisis.
The
ages of the children on sale ranged between 18 months and 13 years.
“People have the right to live, even under occupation,” Dahir
explained. “I see no other way out of the crisis but to sell my
children so they can go on living.”
Fatah
governor Majiud al-Agha, said Dahir had received aid from different
organizations. “We are helping the poor families who are suffering
as a result of the continued Israeli military closure,” he said.
Under
pressure from the PA, Dahir’s family was forced to disown him in
public and denounce his attempt to sell his children.
A
family representative, Mussa Dahir, told The Jerusalem Post
that the father is “mentally disturbed. He has received a lot of
assistance, especially from the PA and charitable and governmental
organizations operating in Rafah.”
A
recent World Bank report said that Israel’s closure of Palestinian
territories and its crackdown on the Palestinian intifida against
Israeli occupation have left the Palestinian economy near total
collapse.
According
to the report, unemployment has tripled, to almost one-third of the
workforce. Real incomes have fallen by almost 30 percent, and are now
lower than they were in the late 1980s.
The
proportion of the poor (those consuming less than two dollars per day)
has doubled, to almost a half of the population of the West Bank and
Gaza. The share of the Palestinian population living below the poverty
line is estimated at almost 50 percent, double what it was in late
2000. 
