Arafat Cuts Bread Prices To Ease Unemployment, Blockade Woes In Palestine

Palestinians lined up outside bakeries Tuesday after Yasser Arafat cut bread prices by 15 percent to help people suffering from high unemployment and Israeli blockades of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The closures, imposed to keep Islamic militant suicide bombers out of Israel, have barred tens of thousands of Palestinians from jobs in Israel.

Arafat has estimated that the closure costs the Palestinian economy $7 million to $9 million a day in lost wages and income. The Palestinian Labor Ministry said Tuesday that unemployment had risen to more than 60 percent as a result of the closures.

The average annual per capita income in Gaza was about $650 last year, or about one-twentieth of what Israelis make, according to U.N. figures.

Most Palestinians buy flat Arab bread by the pound. Now, after the price cut, a typical 6-1/2-pound purchase for a family costs $1.84, down from $2.14.

One of the customers waiting in line at the Salam bakery in Gaza City was Nasser Ali, 39, a father of five who used to work at a construction site in Israel, praised the price cut, but said Arafat needed to do more to pressure Israel.