2008–09 Gaza Strip aid said that "Israel supports foreign aid to the Strip, but it is important to build mechanisms and oversight methods to ensure that the aid reaches Gazan civilians and will not be used to strengthen Hamas." Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, of the rival Fatah party, advised international donors to send Gaza reconstruction money directly to property owners, offering a plan that would effectively bypass the territory's Hamas rulers. The Gaza Strip is bordered by Israel and Egypt, and much of the humanitarian aid reaches the strip through Israel. According to the Associated Press, "Israel allows in several dozen truckloads
Gaza Strip settlements in Gaza, comprising 20% of the total territory. The economic growth rate from 1967 to 1982 averaged roughly 9.7 percent per annum, due in good part to expanded income from work opportunities inside Israel, which had a major utility for the latter by supplying the country with a large reserve of unskilled and semi-skilled manpower. Gaza's agricultural sector was adversely affected as one-third of the Strip was appropriated by Israel, competition for scarce water resources stiffened, and the lucrative cultivation of citrus declined with the advent of Israeli policies, such as prohibitions on planting new trees and taxation that