Skating coach in Gaza reveals the hardships of unemployed youths

The highest unemployment rate was recorded among youth 19 to 29 years of age, which reached about 44 pct

Palestine youngsters on skateboards and rollerblades, calling themselves the "Gaza skate team" hold weekly training sessions in the region just by watching some videos on the internet and assistance from coaches.

The three Israeli wars that have been launched on the Gaza Strip since 2008 have had both a physical and psychological impact on Gaza's economic and social dynamics. Skating equipment is hard to come by in Gaza, where poverty runs deep and Israel and Egypt, citing security concerns, maintain tight restrictions along the border. "We tour the markets looking for second-hand stuff. We collect it and we make it fit for play," said Mohammed al-Sawalhe, one of the coaches.

"I try to change their thinking and turn it from thinking about the blockade, borders, and death to thinking about sport," the coach said about the skaters. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza for security reasons after the Islamist group Hamas took control of the territory in 2007. The World Bank says the blockade reduced the territory, home to 2 million Palestinians, to a state of economic collapse.

The Gaza Strip region has witnessed successive patterns of occupation over the centuries. It was controlled by the Ottomans from 1516 to 1917, by the British from 1917 to 1948, by the Egyptians from 1948 to 1967, and by the Israeli Occupation since 1967.

Unemployment in Palestine increased in 2018 to reach about 31 per cent of the labour force compared with about 28 per cent in 2017, where the number of unemployed individuals increased from 377,000 in 2017 to 426,000 in 2018, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) revealed ahead of International Labour Day tomorrow. In the Gaza Strip, Khan Younis governorate registered the highest unemployment rate with about 58 per cent followed by Deir Al-Balah with a rate of about 57 per cent, while the lowest rate was in Gaza governorate with a rate of about 48 per cent.

All this despite the fact that Palestinians are reported to have higher educational attainment than students of other Arab countries.