The occupation of Palestine and the conflict and violence that have attended it has had devastating implications for protection and livelihoods in the West Bank and Gaza. This Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Working Paper analyzes the relationship between protection and livelihoods in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It explores:

• how threats to people’s protection are linked to their livelihoods,
• the impact of these threats on particular groups in the West Bank and Gaza, including youth and children (which account for over half of the populations in Gaza) and
• the strategies they employ in response.

The study analyzes the efforts of humanitarian organizations to link protection and livelihoods in their work, with recommendations on how this work could be expanded in the occupied Palestinian territory and elsewhere. Among other concerns, the report identifies persistent pyschological trauma in children, poverty caused by vioence and constricted movement, and lack of education due to poor people in the Palestinian territories withdrawing their children from school in order to increase the productive capacity of their households.