Occupied Palestinian Territories - Humanitarian Update, May 2009

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

MAY OVERVIEW

One of the common factors underlying many of the humanitarian issues addressed this month is the restriction on Palestinians' use of space in the oPt.

In the West Bank, approximately 28 percent of the West Bank was declared over the years as either closed military zones or nature reserves, where Palestinian access and use is either banned or restricted. This month, entire communities located in such areas in the Jordan Valley are facing new threats of wide-scale displacement as the Israeli military distributed evacuation and demolition orders affecting over 300 people, including almost 170 children. As elaborated in a new OCHA report, only 13 percent of the Bethlehem district is available for development as a result of Israeli administrative restrictions, the Barrier and Israeli settlement development. Moreover, while Israeli measures implemented in the past few months have eased the flow of Palestinian traffic into a number of West Bank cities, overall, the system of access and movement restrictions is becoming more entrenched.

In the Gaza Strip, beyond the 23 months of continued closure, the Israeli military has also imposed additional restrictions on space, further aggravating Palestinian livelihoods. This month, the IDF expanded its self-declared "buffer zone" from 150 to 300 meters along most of the Israeli-Gaza Border, making a primarily agricultural area inaccessible. The Israeli navy also continues to prevent Palestinian fishermen from fishing beyond three nautical miles from the coastline.

The impact of "space" restrictions on Palestinian livelihoods throughout the oPt has been significant. In the West Bank, without the ability of Palestinians to develop and expand in Israeli-controlled areas, and to move through them more freely, the impact of current efforts to stimulate the economy will likely remain limited. The situation in Gaza is of even greater concern. Access restrictions recently imposed on farmers and fishermen, together with the protracted blockade, are expected to increase Gaza's dependency on international aid, which already targets over two-thirds of Gaza's population.

Freezing evictions, house demolitions and Barrier construction, and lifting some of the access restrictions to agricultural land and fisheries, are a few of the immediate steps that could be taken to prevent further erosion of livelihoods. In Gaza these steps must be supplemented by a drastic increase in the type and amount of goods allowed in through the crossings with Israel.

In addition, in the West Bank, the last few days of May saw a sharp increase in violent events affecting the civilian population. Following armed clashes between PA security forces and Hamas operatives in which six people were killed, Palestinian Authority (PA) forces imposed a prolonged curfew on Qalqiliya City and stepped up arrests of Palestinians. At the same time, there was an escalation in Israeli settler violence targeting mainly Palestinian property. These attacks followed media reports about the intention of the Israeli authorities to remove a number of "unauthorized" settlement outposts, and come in the context of an explicit strategy among some settlers' groups to exact a "price" for every attempt to dismantle a settlement outpost. The failure of the Israeli authorities to adequately enforce the law on violent settlers remains a protection concern.

ISSUES IN FOCUS

Palestinian elementary school students forced to run by IDF escort

In the course of the past few years, Palestinian children from two small villages in south Hebron, who walk every day to the elementary school in At Tuwani village, have faced regular harassment by Israeli settlers, including being verbally abused, physically assaulted, chased and having stones thrown at them. Though the Israeli authorities have failed to bring an end to the harassment, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) has committed to escorting these children to school. Yet, despite the commitment, the soldiers often abandon the children partway along the route, leaving them vulnerable to settler attack. This month, Christian Peacemaker Teams, an international NGO working in the area, reported that in three occasions (4, 17 and 20 May), the soldiers rode in jeeps, forcing the children to run in order to keep up with the escort. Children expressed unhappiness with the escort to the NGO staff, reporting that, in cases, soldiers either revved the jeep's engine, frightening the children, or approached the children in their jeeps at high speeds.

Challenges facing residents of closed military zones

Since 1967, approximately 1,150 square km, or more than 20 percent of the West Bank, were declared by the Israeli authorities as closed military zones, where Palestinian access is prohibited (excluding the closed area between the Barrier and the Green Line). The large majority of these areas are located in the Jordan Valley and along the eastern slopes of the Bethlehem and Hebron governorates.

The closed military zones are populated primarily by small herding and farming communities, many of whom have resided in the area since before 1967. These communities represent some of the most vulnerable in the West Bank and are considered priority groups for humanitarian assistance. They have limited or no access to services (such as education and health) or infrastructure (including water, sanitation and electricity infrastructure). In addition, they face a number of daily challenges, including:

• restricted access to land (including for grazing and agriculture);
• water scarcity, including drought conditions and inequitable allocation of water;
• poor water quality;
• restrictions on planning and construction that force many to build without a permit and face the risk of house demolitions; and
• violence from Israeli settlers living nearby, who generally enjoy a much higher standard of living, due, in part, to Israeli government incentives;(1) and
• regular harassment from Israeli soldiers, among others.

OCHA field observations in recent months suggest that there has been an increase in the enforcement of restrictions applicable to these areas, including the signing of closed military areas in various Jordan Valley locales. Tightened restrictions on access exacerbate the hardship of these communities, and are likely to contribute to the erosion of livelihoods, increasing poverty and growing dependency on aid. As a result of the difficulties confronting these communities, many of them face the ongoing threat of forced displacement.(2)

(1) For information on incentives and financial benefits afforded to West Bank settlers, see B'Tselem report, Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank, May 2002, pgs. 73 - 84; B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
(2) At-risk communities, many of whom have experienced previous displacement include: Khirbet Tana (Nablus), Al Aqaba (Tubas), Tell al Khashaba (Nablus), Mughayyar al Deir (Ramallah), Mu'arrajat (Ramallah), Al Malih (Tubas), Massafer Yatta (Hebron), among others.

Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

© Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA 2003.

Last Modified: Tuesday, 07-Jul-2009 19:18:57 EST
This page: http://apheda.org.au/projects/mideast/news/1246958000_13866.html