Based on Christian Aid's work with local organisations in both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories over the last five decades, this report looks at how and why ordinary Palestinians find themselves in conditions of deepening poverty. Today's acute impoverishment is in danger of destroying Palestinian society. Failure to address the root causes will be felt far beyond Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

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Contents
• Foreword
• Executive summary
• Recommendations
• Introduction

• Chapter 1 - Roots of poverty: Palestinian history 1917-1994
• Chapter 2 - Coming to a halt: the impact of closure
• Chapter 3 - Lost ground: Israeli settlements and Palestinian land
• Chapter 4 - Every last drop: Israel's control of water
• Chapter 5 - A bleak harvest: the undermining of agriculture
• Chapter 6 - 'A process of deterioration': health, the intifada and closure
• Chapter 7 - Unequal playing field: the effect of integration on trade and the economy
• Chapter 8 - The divided city: Jerusalem and the loss of an economic centre
• Chapter 9 - Poverty or development: the reform of the Palestinian Authority
• Chapter 10 - Prospects and conclusions

• Glossary
• Appendix: International humanitarian law
• Notes
• Acknowledgements