MIDDLE EAST: Malnutrition in the Gaza Strip and West Bank is as bad as in sub-Saharan Africa because the Palestinian economy has all but collapsed under Israeli restrictions, British lawmakers said yesterday.
A report by the cross-party International Development Select Committee also called on Britain to press the European Union to impose trade sanctions on Israel until it lifts its restrictions on Palestinian trade.
The World Bank said last year that the Palestinian economy was in steep decline after the Israeli army blockaded and raided Palestinian towns and set up road checkpoints to crack down on a Palestinian uprising for statehood begun in September 2000.
Citing charity figures, the report said rates of malnutrition were as bad in Gaza and the West Bank "as anywhere one would find in sub-Saharan Africa".
It added: "Palestinians . . . are not, as yet, dying of starvation. But they are suffering from malnutrition, as stocks are stretched to feed more and more people.
"We therefore urge the UK government to propose to the EU Council of Trade Ministers that Israel's preferential terms of trade with the EU be suspended until it lifts the movement restrictions which it has placed on Palestinian trade."
An Israeli security barrier has also carved up West Bank land, cutting off thousands of Palestinian farmers from their crops, markets and some water supplies. Israel calls the barrier a security precaution to stop suicide bombings.- (Reuters)