THE LATEST statistics produced by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics show clearly that Israeli domination of the occupied Palestinian territories has lead to appalling, ever worsening conditions of existence for the Palestinian people.
They are left with no alternative but to establish their own state, whatever the sacrifices that have to be made to achieve it. The statistics show that the rate of unemployment among graduates (15-29 years) holding an intermediate diploma degree or higher was 55.8% during 2017 (37.8% for males and 72.0% for females) compared to 41.5% in 2007 (31.7% for males and 52.5% for females), said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).
The PCBS said in its statement that graduates of the educational sciences and teacher training specialisation in 2017 recorded the highest unemployment rate at 69.6% (47.5% for males and 76.2% for females). The unemployment rate among individuals (15-29 years) in Palestine increased in 2017 as it reached 41.0% (33.7% among males and 66.7% among females) compared with 2007 where it was 30.5% (29.4% among males and 35.6% among females).
On the West Bank, the unemployment rate among individuals in the age group (15-29 years) increased from 25.6% in 2007 to 27.2% in 2017, and in the Gaza Strip it increased significantly from 39.8% to 61.2% during the same period. One-third of the Palestinian population is youth, and more than half of them live in Area (C) close to the apartheid wall and the settlements.
The percentage of individuals (15-29 years) in Palestine increased from about 28.2% in 2007 to about 29.2% of the total population in 2017, which is equivalent to about 1.37 million individuals and a sex ratio of 104.5 males per 100 females in 2017. At the level of the region, the percentage of individuals (15-29 years) of 2017 in the West Bank was 29.0% compared to 29.5% in Gaza Strip.
The data indicated that the percentage of individuals (15-29 years) in Palestine, who live in areas (C) close to the apartheid wall and settlements, reached 54.2%, which is equivalent to 743,160 individuals (380,841 males and 362,319 females).
According to the data of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census 2017, the percentage of households headed by youth (15-29 years) in Palestine was 14.9% (13.9% in the West Bank and 16.5% in Gaza Strip). While in 2007 this percentage was 9.2% in Palestine (9.9% in the West Bank and 8.1% in Gaza Strip). This indicates an increase in the social and economic challenges that face youth and why they are now playing the leading role in the developing Palestinian revolution.
More than one-third of the youth in Gaza Strip desire to emigrate! No wonder!
The results of the Palestinian Youth Survey 2015 showed that about 24% of the individuals (15-29 years) in Palestine have a desire to emigrate. The very desperate situation in the Gaza Strip has led to the percentage of those who desire to emigrate reaching 37% compared with 15% in the West Bank. The poverty rate among individuals according to the monthly consumption patterns was 29.2% in 2017 (13.9% in the West Bank and 53.0% in Gaza Strip). The poverty rate among individuals (15-29 years) was 29.5% (13.5% in the West Bank and 56.0% in Gaza Strip).
It was found that 16.8% of the Palestinians suffer from extreme poverty (5.8% in the West Bank and 33.8% in Gaza Strip), while the percentage of extreme poverty among the individuals (15-29 years) was 17.1% in Palestine (6.1% in the West Bank and 35.4% in Gaza Strip). If the above is not a description of a vast concentration camp of a type that the British imperialists invented during the Boer War and which Israel is continuing, then what is it.
The Palestinian youth have no option but to be in the front ranks of the Palestinian revolution in every sense. They have powerful allies in the working people of the world which must give them 100% support, and also in the growing numbers of anti-Zionist Jews who are deeply ashamed of the conduct of the Israeli state. Forward to the victory of the Palestinian revolution and the foundation of the Palestinian state.
