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Report: 80% of Arab-Israeli children live under poverty line

December 27, 2017 at 9:06 am

Israeli demolition in Bedouin village on 27th October 2016 [arab48]

Poverty levels among Israel’s Arab citizens have increased as a result of the government’s racist policies, official data has shown.

Quds Press reported a study issued by Israel’s Child Safety Department which said that 80 per cent of Arab children in Israel live under the poverty line.

“About 370,000 children in Israel live under the poverty line,” Israeli news website Wallah reported. “This means that one in three children live under the poverty line,” it added.

Read: Jerusalem’s Islamic-Christian Council calls for building Palestinian army

Poverty levels among Arab-Israeli families has risen sharply over the past 17 years, it was 53 per cent in 2000 and hit 62 per cent in 2016.

According to official Israeli data, there are 1.8 Palestinian citizens of Israel – called Arab-Israelis. They are the descendants of 160,000 Palestinians, who did not leave their lands when Zionist gangs occupied them in 1948.

They suffer clear discrimination in accessing work and housing.