The occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) recorded marginal economic growth last year, and unemployment remained high, with Israel’s closure policy in the West Bank and the blockade of the Gaza Strip continuing to inhibit the territory’s potential for rapid economic expansion, the United Nations reported today.
In its annual report on assistance to the Palestinian people, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates that oPt’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 6.8 per cent in 2009, but the rate of unemployment declined by only 1.6 percent.

Future Generation Hands Association continue its program (Palestinian Palestinian meetings by held the third meeting with the participation of 8 participants from FGHA -Nablus and 8 from Oasis of Peace - Jerusalem.

This meeting was held on 25-26 july 2010. under the guidance of the supervisors from two institutions the participants introduced themselves in terms of personal, social and political and variety dialogues and discussions took place among participants About political, social and outstanding territorial issues.

Future Generation Hands Association has held a training course for the third group of the project of "Training Youths and School Children on Human Rights", financed and supported by Welfare Association and Austrian Development Agency with the participation of 15 students from An-Najah National University-Faculty of Law.

This training course aimed to raise and enhance the level of awareness of the culture and concepts of human rights and democracy among Palestinian youths.

The United Nations is calling for the urgent lifting of Israeli military restrictions on civilian access to Gaza’s land and sea, which has eroded the livelihoods of Palestinian residents and worsened the plight of a population already under an economic blockade.
Over the past 10 years, the Israeli military has expanded restrictions on access to farmland on the Gaza side of the 1949 Armistice Line between Israel and Gaza – also known as the ‘Green Line’ – and to fishing areas along Gaza’s coast, with the stated intention of preventing attacks by Palestinian armed factions.

More than 6,200 children attending a summer camp in the Gaza Strip run by the United Nations agency assisting Palestinian refugees have broken their own world record for the number of kites flown at the same time.

The feat comes exactly one week after more than 7,200 children bounced basketballs simultaneously for five minutes, doubling a 2007 record set in the United States.