West Bank and Gaza Checkpoints and
Barriers : Searching for Livelihoods

This report assesses the impact of the
movement and access regime in the period 2000-07 on the
economy and the working lives of Palestinians, exploring the
gender dimension of restrictions on labor force
participation, and how new tensions in the arena of work
resulting from movement and access restrictions have
affected relations between women and men. The findings of
this study are based on an analysis of data covering the
years 2000 to 2007 and examine the long-term impacts of
restrictions on movement and access. As controls on movement
became more entrenched following the second intifada, a
massive economic decline ensued, leading to a drop in male
employment and real wages resulting from job losses in
Israel, and a corresponding rise in unemployment. This same
period also witnessed a sharp rise in both covert and overt
forms of violence. Israeli military incursions, detentions,
manned checkpoints, home demolitions, the separation
barrier, and the Palestinians' own response spun a web
of violence in public and private that touched the everyday
lives of all Palestinians. The violence resulting from the
occupation has led to loss of life, land, property, and free
movement of people, and has fragmented social space, a key
source of material and moral support especially for women.
With neither Israeli nor Palestinian legal systems able to
provide defense or protection, these momentous changes in
people's everyday lives created a sense of collapse of
the public, social, and moral order against this backdrop,
the effects on Palestinian society have been extensive and
far reaching, on relations between men and women, on
intergenerational relations between the young and the old,
on ties of kinship, and on social networks. This study,
through qualitative sources, provides insights to a chain of
events that have and are moderating social behavior and
gender relations associated with work. The study also
captures what the deteriorating situation has meant for
Palestinian females and males of all ages in terms of their
economic engagement, their ability to seek alternate
livelihoods, their coping strategies, their social and human
investments, and their future aspirations.