Context
The situation in the Palestinian territories is still fragile, politically and economically speaking, due to the Israeli restrictions, the territorial fragmentation between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Area C occupation (61% of the whole land) and the Israeli control on East Jerusalem.
The Palestinian economy is grown up in 2017 of 2%, a too limited percentage to enhance the population life standards and the job market capacity. The unemployment rate is at the 28% and only 22% of women have access to the labor market. In Gaza the work conditions are even worse: the unemployment rate is 46,6 %, 61% among young people. The 2014 war consequences are still tangible, with 70% of the population depending on humanitarian aids; among this people, more than 55,000 refugees are in need of a proper housing and 2500 families are still displaced.
Mission and Goals
Development cooperation represents an important component of the Italian presence in Palestine. Since 1985, Italy disbursed around 450 millions of EURO for development and humanitarian programmes and projects in favor of Palestinian people in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
Providing a constant activity among the international donors in the AID coordination, benefitting of institutional partnerships built during the years and supported by a large group of Italian Civil Society Organizations and Local Authorities working on the field, the Italian cooperation is in a central position in the International AID Map to Palestine.
