Abstract :
This paper tackles the plight of unemployment facing the Occupied Palestinian Territories as well as its different forms and causes. The paper also investigates the characteristics of the jobless, and the relationship between unemployment and poverty, and employment distribution in income. But the major goal of this study was to set or specify employment policy to be adopted to check or limit the problem of unemployment in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The study in question explained the size of unemployment in the OPT arguing that the size of unemployment must not be based on the narrow definition of unemployment. It must include all other forms of joblesssness rampant in these territories: partial unemployment, disguised unemployment and discouraged workers. Pertaining to the characteristics of the jobless people, it was found that the majority of them belonged to the young age category, and enjoyed a high level of education indicating the presence of unemployment among educated people in these territories, as is the situation in many Arab countries. The study also revealed a strong relationship between the widespread of joblessness and the widespread of poverty as well as a difference in income distribution in the OPT. As to the causes of unemployment, the paper attributes that to the weakness of absorption capacity of the Palestinian economy resulting from the total destruction of the infrastructure of OPT at the hands of Israeli occupation in the last 28 years. Since 1967, the Israeli military occupation has prevented the development of an independent Palestinian economy rendering ...
