President of the Trade and Development Board Ambassador Hasans of Latvia,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. President,

1. The cause of the Palestinian people is one that has always been close to the heart and to the spirit of solidarity of our Group. In this context, The Group of 77 and China would like to thank the Secretariat for preparing an informative report that gives us a realistic inside look, no matter how bleak, to the deteriorating socioeconomic situation in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT).

2. Our Group would like to express its concern for the findings of the report about how occupation has fostered a momentum of reversals of development gains, thus remaining the main obstacle to the achievement of sustainable development and the SDGs in the occupied Palestinian Territory.

3. Our Group concurs with the report’s findings about the restrictions imposed on the Palestinian economy role in weakening the competitiveness of Palestinian producers and forcing the Palestinian people into economic dependency.

4. Furthermore, the warnings of UNCTAD report are pertinent regarding the dangers of declining donor support, the high unemployment levels, poverty, and declining per capita income of the Palestinian people. Indeed, the report vividly explains how occupation and its restrictions exact a disproportionately heavier toll on Palestinian women in terms of income and employment opportunities.

5. Our Group is concerned that military operations in Gaza and the protracted fiscal crisis have hindered the recovery and the post pandemic recovery. To help the Palestinian people cope with the severe socioeconomic conditions, donors need to reverse the trend of their declining support for the Palestinian people. Furthermore, the Group of 77 and China calls on the end to all the ongoing economic restrictions imposed on the Palestinian people.

6. In this respect, our Group is particularly concerned about the growth of the illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian land, and the increase in violence against Palestinian civilians. The Group of 77 and China would like to recall UN Security Council resolution 2334 of December 2016, which states that these settlements are a flagrant violation under international law and call on Israel to immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem. Moreover, despite several United Nations resolutions, the year 2021 saw high levels of Palestinian property demolitions and displacements, as indicated by the report before us today.

Mr. President,

7. As stated in the Secretariat’s report, in the West Bank the restrictions on the movement of the Palestinian people that remain in place since 2000 have taken a heavy economic toll. Meanwhile, since 2007, Gaza has been under a tight blockade. The Group of 77 and China calls for lifting the blockade on Gaza and ending all restrictions in the West Bank.

8. Further to the Secretariat’s report, the Palestinian government is not adequately equipped to cope with the far-reaching economic responsibilities on its shoulders. It has limited access to external borrowing, no national currency or independent monetary policy, and very limited fiscal space. Yet, it has made important efforts of fiscal tightening, despite an environment of recurrent political, economic and humanitarian crises.

9. Our Group takes note that since 2007 the Palestinian Government managed to bring down its fiscal deficit, raise public revenue and reduce the ratio of total expenditure to GDP. The efforts of the Palestinian must therefore be accompanied by the solidarity of the international community, most notably by sufficient foreign aid to match the needs of the Palestinian people who live under one of the longest occupations in modern history.

10. The Group of 77 and China calls for ending the leakage of Palestinian fiscal resources and the unilateral deductions by Israel. If these fiscal losses drag further, they will jeopardise years of Palestinian state-building efforts and can only worsen the socioeconomic suffering of the Palestinian people.

11. Our Group would like to thank UNCTAD for its work on assistance to the Palestinian people, while expressing its support for the additional resources that have been proposed in the context of the 2023 programme budget for UNCTAD’s full implementation of its mandates in relation to assisting the Palestinian people.

12. To conclude, the Group of 77 and China reiterates its solidarity with the Palestinian people and their just struggle for peace, achieving their inalienable rights under international law, and establishing their sovereign state in line with their right to self-determination.

I thank you, Mr. President.