During the Oslo negotiations, a permanent closure was imposed on the Occupied Territories. It has little to do with security. Indeed, during the previous 26 years of occupation, including the first Intifada, there was no closure. Since 1993 Palestinians have been locked out of work, and impoverished, while Israel has imported hundreds of thousands of cheaper foreign workers. By 2002, the average Palestinian family earned only an eighth of what it had earned when the peace process began in 1993.

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