Occupied Palestinian Territories - Humanitarian Update, February 2009

Summary of monthly Humanitarian Monitor report produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

FEBRUARY OVERVIEW

During the month of February, the Palestinian civilian population faced the most significant threat of displacement and dispossession of recent months. Actions by various Israeli institutions, including the army, Civil Administration, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli High Court of Justice, impacted the homes, livelihoods and future of over 1,500 Palestinians in East Jerusalem, many of them children. Southeast of Bethlehem city, more than 1,700 dunams (1 dunum = 1000 square metres = ¼ acre) of land were designated "state land" for the planned expansion of the Efrat settlement. This comes in addition to land in the governorate that has already been requisitioned for Barrier construction, settlement roads and new settlement housing units. These actions contribute to the precarious future of Bethlehem and its surrounding villages, which are progressively losing access to land due to the expansion of settlements and Barrier construction in this area.

In its July 2004 Advisory Opinion, the International Court of Justice concluded that the Barrier route in the West Bank is illegal and that Israel should cease construction and dismantle the parts already constructed. However, Israel continues to seize and level land for Barrier construction. Palestinian villagers who protest these Israeli actions are subject to IDF harassment. This month there were numerous IDF searches and raids conducted in the middle of the night on residents of these villages, some resulting in violent clashes.

The ceasefire in Gaza remains fragile. Casualty figures among Palestinians in Gaza during February are close to those recorded during the two months that preceded the launching of the Israeli offensive on 27 December. The insecurity experienced by the Gazan population was heightened by internal violence, reports of mistreatment and mishandling of weapons, resulting in the killing of seven Palestinians and the injury of 19 others. An estimated 65 Qassam rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza into Israel this month. While no Israeli fatalities or injuries were reported, some Israeli property sustained damage.

Three Palestinian children were killed during February in Israeli-Palestinian violence, two of them in the Gaza Strip and one in the West Bank. An additional 31 Palestinian children were injured, 20 in the West Bank, mainly in demonstrations, and 11 in the Gaza Strip.

The month of February recorded important developments in internal movement and access within the West Bank. Most of these developments contribute to the easing of Palestinian movement in specific areas, particularly for vehicles, but preserve and entrench existing Israeli restrictions and mechanisms of control for the benefit of Israeli settlements. It is becoming apparent that the checkpoint and obstacles, which Israeli authorities justified from the beginning of the second Intifada (September 2000) as a temporary military response to violent confrontations and attacks on Israeli civilians, is evolving into a more permanent system of control that is steadily reducing the space available for Palestinian growth and movement for the benefit of the increasing Israeli settler population.

The blockade of the Gaza Strip continues. Access into the Gaza Strip remained nearly the same this month - a daily average of 127 truckloads. This is well below imports in May 2007 (475 truckloads), one month before the Hamas take-over. As a result, the level of imports remains insufficient to meet market needs; over 80% of the truckloads in February carried food stuffs. Other major essential supplies, such as construction materials, spare parts for water and wastewater infrastructures, industrial inputs and livestock have not entered. There was no significant improvement in access of patients to treatment abroad during the month of February. Out of 324 permit applications submitted during the month, only 183 (56.5%) were approved in a timely manner. One truckload of flowers was exported in February - the first time a Gazan product has been allowed out since January 2008.

Access into Gaza improved for international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) and NGO staff through Erez Crossing, compared to January; however access of Palestinian staff with West Bank or Israeli ID cards continues to be prohibited in most cases. Flour mills and bakeries were able to operate almost at full capacity due to increased wheat grain and cooking gas imports. One out of the six mills, which was destroyed during military operations, remains non operational. Access to water and electricity has improved.

Yet, none of these developments are sustainable without unimpeded access and an increase in quantity and types of imports. The Gaza Power Plant reported that there are more than 100 procurement orders of spare parts and consumables, which have been waiting for months for clearance to enter Gaza. The continued shortage of these spare parts prevents some repair work from taking place and keeps the functioning of the GPP at a fragile level. In response to the access constraints and interferences experienced by humanitarian agencies and their projects, the UN Humanitarian Country Team has prepared a joint framework of principles to guide the provision of humanitarian assistance to Gaza ("Framework for the Provision of Humanitarian Assistance in Gaza").

ISSUES IN FOCUS

Land confiscations in Bethlehem

"The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." Article 49 (6), Fourth Geneva Convention 1949.

[Israel is called upon] "to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem." United Nations Security Council Resolution 465, 1 March 1980.

[The Quartet (USA, EU, Russian Federation, UN) call on the] "Government of Israel [to] freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)." Road Map to Peace, 30 April 2003.

Recent Israeli government and settler actions in the Bethlehem district threaten to sever the urban area of the Palestinian governorate from its rural hinterland. These actions reduce further the available agricultural land and opportunities for cultivation for the nine Palestinian communities (22,000 residents) located west of Bethlehem in the Israeli Gush Etzion settlement bloc. These communities are already vulnerable since they are located west of the approved route of the Barrier which, once completed, is likely to reduce Palestinians' access to services in Bethlehem unavailable in their villages, i.e. markets, health services, and higher education in Bethlehem city.

• In February, the Israeli Civil Administration announced that approximately 1,700 dunams of land near the village of Artas were to be designated Israeli-controlled 'state land', following the rejection of appeals by eight local Palestinian landowners. Over the years, the Government of Israel has designated large tracts of the West Bank as 'state land' and allocated it for the construction of Israeli settlements. The land in question lies within the Israeli Efrat settlement municipal boundary, and is intended for the creation of 2,500 new settlement housing units for the new Givat Ha'eytam neighbourhood. A lengthy bureaucratic process may delay this construction. While the currently built-up area of Efrat is located to the west of the Barrier route, the land confiscated and the proposed settlement expansion area lies to the east of the Barrier, raising concerns that the Barrier could be re-routed in order to incorporate it.

• The Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem, revealed in February Civil Administration plans for further Israeli settlement expansion within the Bethlehem governorate in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. In the Israeli settlement of Geva'ot, which currently hosts 12 families, initial construction plans are for a new neighbourhood of 550 apartments, which will eventually lead to a total planned 4,450 apartments. In addition, 2,000 new apartments are planned for Bat 'Ayin settlement, which currently has 120 Israeli families.

• On 1 January, the Israeli authorities issued a seizure order to build a new 2.2 kilometre-long security road for the Israeli settlements of Geva'ot and Betar Illit. This road will obstruct Palestinian residents from the village of Nahalin from reaching their land and the main village water well, Ein al-Faras. The Israeli settlement Betar Illit is already one of the largest Israeli settlements in the West Bank. According to the Israeli group Peace Now, there are plans for an additional 790 housing units to be built, which will also adversely affect the neighbouring Palestinian village of Wadi Fukin.

• The Israeli authorities issued another seizure order on 19 February affecting the land of Jaba' in the southwest part of the Bethlehem governorate, where a 400-metre fence will be constructed west of the village. In addition, in February, the IDF issued military orders to the landowners in Jaba' ordering them to remove agricultural growth from their lands on the grounds that these were 'state land'. On 18 February, the IDF removed approximately 300 olive tree saplings from the area.

• A report by Peace Now reveals that the Israeli Ministry of Housing and Construction is planning to construct at least 73,000 Israeli housing units in the West Bank, of which 15,000 have already been approved. According to Peace Now, these include plans for the expansion of two Israeli settlement outposts near Efrat: 395 housing units in Giv'at Hadagan and 527 units in Giv'at Hatamar.

• Israeli settlers continue to try to settle the site of a removed IDF military base at Ush Ghurab in Beit Sahour, to the east of Bethlehem city. The Palestinian municipality of Beit Sahour has planned and began construction of a public park on approximately 100 dunams of the site to include sports facilities, a climbing tower and a cafeteria.

© Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA 2003.

Last Modified: Wednesday, 18-Mar-2009 11:29:49 EST
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