Occupied Palestinian Territories - Humanitarian Update, June 2009

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

JUNE OVERVIEW

The Gaza blockade entered its third year this June. This blockade has been characterized by the UN's most senior humanitarian official, John Holmes, as a form of collective punishment on the entire Gazan population. The blockade was imposed by Israel after the Hamas organization took control over the security apparatus in the Gaza Strip in June 2007. Since then, Gaza's largest and best equipped commercial crossing, Karni, has been shut down; the amount of imports allowed in have been reduced to approximately 20 percent of the level before the imposition of the blockade and limited, to a large extent, to food, medical and hygiene products; exports were entirely banned, except for a few exceptional truckloads of flowers. These measures have devastated the private sector economy and resulted in the closure of 95 percent of the previously operating businesses and the loss of 120,000 jobs. Moreover, the ongoing ban on the import of construction materials is preventing the reconstruction of 6,300 homes, destroyed or seriously damaged during the "Cast Lead" military offensive, as well as dozens of schools and health facilities.

The supply of electricity also continues to be severely constrained by the blockade due to insufficient industrial fuel supplies and the inability to import parts to repair damage to the electricity network from "Cast Lead". Since the beginning of 2009, the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company (GEDCO) received only a few of truckloads of electric items, which were used to rehabilitate a limited number of electrical networks; there are currently 150 electrical materials (e.g. high voltage cables, transformers, wires and switches) at zero stock level and approximately 400 others in short supply. During June, there were daily electrical outages ranging from 6 to 8 hours affecting 90 percent of the Gazan population, while the remaining 10 percent have not received electricity at all due to unrepaired damages incurred by the network during "Cast Lead". With the heavy summer heat, these outages are directly affecting refrigerated foods and air conditioning supply in individual households, as well as the provision of essential services like water and sanitation, health care and medicine storage, and waste disposal. As a result, public institutions are forced to rely extensively on backup generators fueled by diesel, which for the last seven months has been imported only through the tunnels under the border with Egypt, due to a ban imposed on its import through the official crossings (except for small quantities for hospitals).

The severity of this situation led 38 humanitarian organizations to issue this month a unified statement calling for the free and uninhibited access of all humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip, in line with applicable international agreements. The statement described the atmosphere of deprivation and the deepening sense of hopelessness and despair among people in Gaza as unacceptable and concluded that the men, women and children of Gaza should be shown an alternative of hope and dignity before the situation deteriorates further.

ISSUES IN FOCUS

New Israeli procedure deepens Gaza-West Bank separation

In the context of a number of petitions filed with the Israeli High Court of Justice by a human rights group (HaMoked), challenging the prohibition of Gaza residents from relocating to the West Bank, the State Attorney submitted a new procedure defining "humanitarian cases" eligible for exceptional permits.(1)

After the outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000, Israel froze the updating of addresses of Gazans who had moved to the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem, which is regulated by a separate regime) in its copy of the Palestinian population registry. As a result, thousands of Gazans living in the West Bank are considered by the Israeli authorities as "illegal aliens," and risk being expelled to the Gaza Strip. Since November 2007 Israel has required Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to apply for temporary permits to stay in the West Bank.

According to the new procedure, family relations by themselves do not qualify as a "humanitarian reason" that would warrant the issuance of a permit to relocate to the West Bank. Only orphans, chronically ill people or elderly invalids - none of whom have relatives in Gaza who can care for them - may be allowed to move to the West Bank to join first-degree relatives living there. Applicants will be given temporary permits, first for six months and then for a year, and only after seven years will the Israeli authorities consider whether to allow the applicant to reside permanently in the West Bank.

The procedure's stricter criteria mean that couples and families divided between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have virtually no chance of reuniting. The new restrictions affect the thousands of registered Gaza residents who live in the West Bank, many of whom have spouses and children there and who will continue to face constant risk of expulsion and displacement.

According to a joint position paper published by HaMoked and another human rights group, Gisha, the new procedure violates Israel's commitment in the Oslo Accords to treat the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a "single territorial unit," and formalizes the separation between the two territories. The groups assert that the procedure also violates the rights of residents of an occupied territory to freedom of movement, to choose their place of residence, and to maintain family life - all recognized in international law.

(1) The new procedure is available at: http://www.hamoked.org.il/items/9027_eng.pdf. The procedure was submitted in March 2009 at the Court's request, and publicized by HaMoked and Gisha in June.

Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

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