The world economic slowdown has kept the Palestinian economy off the front pages of world media. Sure, the “Free Gaza” campaign has sent in a few boats to highlight how they see that Israel is to blame for all the poverty of the Palestinians.

The facts on the ground indicate a more intricate set of issues.

One such story is the olive harvest, worth an estimated US$140 million to Palestinian farmers. Over the past few months, there had been concerns that Israeli military movement would hinder the harvest. But to quote an army  spokesperson:

“As a part of preparations for this year’s harvest, meetings were held between Israel’s Civil Administration and Palestinian counterparts. The meetings included representatives of the various villages, as well as important figures from the Palestinian Authority (PA) including the PA Olive Oil Department…”

The statement continued: “The harvest has yielded approximately 24,000 tons of olive oil, compared to last year’s 8000 ton yield. 114,000 tons of olives were harvested (compared to 41,000 tons last year), 7,000 of which will be pickled and 107,000 tons are designated for production of olive oil. An estimated 7,000 tons of the olive oil produced will be marketed in Israel.”

On the downside are trends in Palestinian society, which do not enhance economic development. A press release form Hamas on November 5^th referred to the proposed “noble Islamic religious law”. This will impact directly on the banking system, employment laws, contracts and other areas of commerce.

This legislation will directly contradict the reforms demanded by the IMF and The Quartet. It has to be noted that a few of these changes have already been implemented by Fayyad, the Prime Minister under President Abbas. Fayyad, a banker with an international reputation, has been consistently ignored and rejected by Hamas.

The law coincides with the continuing decline in basic freedoms, as reported by the Palestinian NGO, the Independent Commission for Human Rights. It is not not just the arbitrary arrests or unwarranted attacks on private property. In October, the Commission received 70 separate complaints from teachers being dismissed by the Palestinian Ministry of Education because of their private political views.