The Palestinians have faced many problems in trying to develop a state of their own in Palestine. One of the biggest problems is their economic development. The Israeli government has put many restrictions on the Palestinian economy, making it an underdeveloped, low-performance, dependent economy, dominated by the Israelis. Also, unemployment rates and poverty are large factors. This has been going on since the creation of the state of Israel and is still going on today.
             Before the state of Israel was created, many Arabs relied on agriculture as their main source of income. In the early years of the state, Arab agriculture in the West Bank and Gaza seemed to "freeze" in its development. This was because the Israeli government put strict control over the agricultural market. Since Jewish agriculture was not fully developed, the monopolizing companies did not hesitate to block Arab agriculture until they achieved its full strength. Also, Arabs were paid less for their produce because "the outlay for growing foodstuffs in an Arab village was less than its Jewish equivalent, and it was therefore considered only proper to reserve a proportion of the price for developing Arab villages (Jiryis 215)."
             Jewish agriculture also had much support from the government. They would receive a great deal of aid, huge loans, and modern equipment, while the Arabs were even restricted from buying machinery. All this had a major effect on Arab farming, and it soon became unprofitable and was practiced only by those who had no other choice. In 1971, the amount of Arabs practicing agriculture dropped down to a mere 22.4 percent. They were forced to sell their land to the Jews. "More Jewish settlements could then be established and the Jewish way of life was more firmly imprinted into the land (Jiryis 218)."
             Many Palestinians turned to manual labor after this. It was hard at first, since the Israeli government...