Livelihoods lost
While the economy in Gaza has been severely impacted, with a large proportion of the population displaced and infrastructure, livelihoods and natural resources destroyed, the West Bank too has been heavily affected as a result of increasing violent clashes and restrictions to movement of people and goods.
It’s estimated that over 40 per cent of all employment in the West Bank has been lost since 7 October. This includes jobs held by Palestinians who had been working for Israeli firms and can no longer do so, jobs in tourism and related industries, roles in the Palestinian Authority that is responsible for administration, as well as jobs held by people living in the West Bank who had been working in areas of Jerusalem they can no longer access because their permits have been cancelled.
Access to education and medical treatment
With unemployment rates increasing and income decreasing, the number of people struggling to pay for essentials like medical care and schooling is growing. Before the escalation of the current conflict, a local church body (the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem) had been responsible for funding the only health and education services in the community available to people regardless of their ability to pay (and focusing on the most vulnerable people). This work was largely supported by finances raised through diocese-run guesthouses which provided accommodation to tourists and pilgrims to Jerusalem. Since 7 October, all this income has stopped.
In these local hospitals run by the diocese, the number of patients able to pay for their treatment has dropped by 60 per cent and the number of people who seek affordable or free-of-charge services has increased dramatically.
In a bid to continue providing these vital services to people most in need of them, the Anglican Alliance, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, has coordinated a group of charities, including Tearfund, to help bridge the financial gap.
In the West Bank, a hospital and a clinic and two educational facilities were identified as most in need by the Anglican Alliance and, as part of a coordinated response, Tearfund supporters have been helping ensure that those who are sick can get the treatment they urgently need and children, whose lives have already been significantly affected in one way or another by the war, can stay in school.
