Mr Dabbagh, the Gaza-based executive director for the Near East Council of Churches Committee for Refugee Work, yesterday gave a talk called "Working for peace, justice and development" in Gaza at the Faith and Development symposium at the University of Otago.
Life was very difficult in Gaza, because of strict Israeli controls on the movement of people and a blockade on supplies which greatly restricted economic activity there, including in the building industry, he said in an interview.
Unemployment was at 60% in Gaza, and about 80% of people were living in poverty.
Electricity was unavailable for much of the day and piped water was also restricted and sometimes contaminated.
People were experiencing "captivity" in Gaza but he had not lost hope for the future.
Mr Dabbagh, who has six children, is a Christian who was born in east Jerusalem.
Last year, three robbers forced their way into his house, and made off with money, jewellery and his car.
That incident had absolutely nothing to do with his ecumenical work in Gaza, which included co-ordinating health care and education programmes, he said.
He noted that former New Zealand prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer had recently been appointed to head a United Nations panel which this week began its inquiry into Israel's commando raid on a Gaza-bound international aid convoy on May 31.
There was scope for New Zealand to highlight, through the United Nations, and in other contexts, the plight of Gaza's people and to promote a just peace in the Middle East, he said.
He favoured peaceful coexistence with Israel, but said a just peace also required the development of a Palestinian state involving east Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank.
About 50 people attended the one-day symposium, which was hosted by the university's Poverty, Inequality and Development research cluster and the Centre for Theology and Public Issues.
