Economic hardship among the Palestinians is compounded…

Economic hardship among the Palestinians is compounded by the fact that during the continuing terrorist incidents along the Lebanese border and in the occupied territories Israel had imposed severe travel restrictions on Palestinian day laborers.

The overall result is a loss of jobs, a loss of morale, and loss of support for the PLO leadership in Tunis.

However, prospects for a settlement of the outstanding issues between the Palestinians and Israel become significantly altered by several factors.

These include the convening of the international peace conference between Israeli and Arab delegates (including Palestinians from the occupied territories as part of a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation) at Madrid, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.