Mubarak warns against heavy losses of an expected ME war
If President Mubarak has warned frequently against the heavy losses of an expected ME war between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a recent report issued by the UN has proved the validity of such a warning.
The report records in figures the heavy losses of the Israeli and Palestinian sides in the present Intifada as they are not yet involved in an all-out war which Sharon insists on waging it.
On the Palestinian side, the besieging of Palestinian cities resulted in economic losses estimated at 51% of the GNP. Losses of income are estimated at $ 907,300,000.
The Israeli troops' closing crossings resulted in a sharp decrease of the Palestinian workers in Israel from 130,000 to 3065 workers whose revenues were $ 56,100,000.
Palestinian exports to Israel had a sharp decrease as well estimated at 16,5%. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed increased from 100,000 to 253,000.
As for the casualties of the Intifada, 737 were killed and 12,000 were injured. 490 of the injured were sent to Arab countries for medical treatment as their injuries were serious.
Meanwhile, thousands of acres of cultivable lands and houses were bulldozed by the Israeli forces.
In the meantime, the Palestinian budget has a huge deficit estimated at $ 100,000,000 as payments exceeded revenues.
On the Israeli side, the growth rate decreased from 6% to 2%. The tourism sector suffered from the largest amount of losses estimated at three milliard Shekel as many hotels closed down, thousands of workers were laid off. Hotel reservations decreased by 50%.
The construction sector had huge losses also. Building projects came to a halt. Purchasing flats decreased greatly as Israelis began to feel more insecure. The losses of the construction sector reached the rate of 3% of the GNP. Moreover, 30,000 Israelis are laid off annually in this sector.
Meanwhile, Israeli food exports to the Palestinian Authority decreased greatly from its previous rate estimated at 8%.
The sales sector suffers from a decrease estimated at 40% equaling 12 milliard Shekel. Many factories also closed down and the industrial zones seem deserted now.
The agricultural sector suffers from losses estimated at 152,000,000 Shekel whit hit the planting of tomato, cucmber, onion and pepper.
The number of unemployed increased at 5% from 170,000 to 180,000 where the rate of unemployment became 9%.
Thus, the losses of the Israeli economy due to the Intifada reached 10 milliard Shekel. The chief of the trades union summed up the situation when he said: "The crisis with the Palestinians was made by our free will, and the economic losses are not the only type of losses in the present war."