Memorandum submitted by Together for Peace
We are an independent, non-affiliated British
group seeking to be actively engaged with the situation in Palestine
and Israel. However, for simplicity we have grouped ourselves
underneath the banner of Together for Peace (www.togetherforpeace.co.uk)
for which two of us work, and with which there is a large degree
of overlap.
We are currently in Palestine and Israel for
2+ weeks (two of us not for the first time), fact-finding, building
up relationships with people from different communities, building
links for twinning Leeds with communities and institutions out
here, and promoting greater awareness among our communities and
networks in the UK.
We have spent time with the following people
and organisations during the trip, several of whom have actively
partnered with us in compiling this report:
— Wi'am grassroots peacebuilding project,
Bethlehem (www.planet.edu/alaslah).
— Tent of Nations, near Nahhalin (www.tentofnations.org).
— Taayush (www.taayush.org) Israeli-led
peace movement (especially Ezra Yitzhak).
— Badil Resource Centre for Palestinian
Residency and Refugees' Rights (www.badil.org).
— Prisoners' Association, Bethlehem.
— Givat Haviva peace education centre
(www.givathaviva.org).
— Fayez Saqqa, MLC for Bethlehem (Fatah).
— Palestinian Polytechnic University,
Hebron: students and staff.
— Temporary International Presence
in Hebron (TIPH).
— Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT),
Hebron.
— Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
(ICAHD).
— Women's Community Centre, Lajee Centre
(www.lajee.org) and Ayed Al-Azar, Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem.
— Lucy Palazzo, a US national currently
investigating legal issues surrounding settlements in the West
Bank.
We have also spent informal time with friends,
associates, internationals and NGOs (including Jewish Israelis),
all of whose insights and perspectives have informed our report.
We have split our time between the southern
West Bank (primarily Bethlehem and Hebron) and Jerusalem, and
also toured around the far south of the West Bank (Twani, Karmel,
Susiya, Al Burj, Pene Hever) especially visiting Palestinians
living in close—and highly tense—proximity to Israeli
settlements.
We are shocked by the situation in the occupied
Palestinian territories and would strongly urge DFID to review
and change its policies and strategies.
Finally, we are neither experienced report writers,
nor have we had as much time to compile this report as we would
have liked. However, we are very happy to be contacted for further
enquiries or to give oral evidence to the committee. Even more
so though, several of our partners (listed above) who are living
in Palestine and so are far better informed than us, are also
very happy to be given the opportunity to speak with the committee.
(Which might need to be conducted by telephone, as leaving the
West Bank is complex and costly.)
SUMMARY:
— The suspension of aid to the PA seems
to be causing massive social disruption and frustration. It is
not having the effect of weakening support for Hamas, but is only
serving to deepen social divisions and economic problems.
— The separation barrier and the other
controls on the movement of goods and people are causing profound
social and economic effects within the West Bank. From small villages
to the large trading centres, economic activity is being restricted
and livelihoods are suffering.
— Controls on the movement of people
and vehicles are limiting the delivery of humanitarian and emergency
medical assistance in some areas. Organizations such as the UN,
Red Crescent & TIPH are now having difficulty gaining access
to many Israeli controlled areas of the West Bank.
— Palestinian use of new roads linking
settlements across the West Bank is limited due to the deterrence
of checkpoints, permits and Israeli vehicle registration, as well
as the prohibitions placed on Palestinian use of some roads.
— Harassment and intimidation of Palestinians
by Israeli settlers is widespread with resulting effects on access
to land, freedom of movement and economic activity for Palestinians.
— There are ongoing situations where
Palestinian children travelling to and from school are harassed
by Israeli settlers, necessitating accompaniment of the children
by internationals.
— The ability of the Palestinian people
to assert land rights in the face of either settlement expansion
or separation wall construction is critical to achieving a just
political solution to the conflict.
PRESENTATION OF
EVIDENCE
The following information is presented in response
to some of the 10 issues raised by the inquiry.
Issue 1: The impact of the suspension of aid to
the Palestinian Authority and the impact of the temporary international
mechanism for Palestinian basic needs, agreed by the Quartet and
the European Council
1. The suspension of aid to the PA seems to
be causing massive social disruption and frustration. 140,000
of the total 160,000 public workers have now not received wages
for 7+ months and many (including all teachers) are now striking
until some resolution is reached. People we spoke to felt strongly
that if anything this was creating a siege mentality among Palestinians
that was far from weakening support for Hamas, and only serving
to deepen social divisions, problems, etc. Apart from pervasive,
low-level problems, a specific example is the gathering resentment
against communities still receiving services (such as the refugee
communities, whose education and health needs are largely provided
by the UN in addition to Fatah-dominated village councils and
municipalities).
2. Also, with such a large percentage of the
overall workforce dependent on state wages, these measures have
obviously had a significant effect upon the economy in general
(because many people cannot afford to buy anything but essentials,
if that). This clearly adds to the already major problem of aid
dependency.
3. Construction on a $20 million USAID project
to provide a sewage piping network for Palestinian towns and villages
in the Yatta area of the West Bank has been at a standstill since
the project was halted following the victory of Hamas in the PA
elections. We witnessed a storage site for the project containing
large quantities of piping along with heavy machinery.
4. During our stay in the Palestinian Territory
we have managed to gather some information regarding the on-going
breakdown of the Palestinian society primarily due to the cutoff
of international aid and the resulting strike. The following matrix
includes some of these effects on the social, security, education,
health, economics and civil affairs:
Education
— Increased pressure on private educational
institutions as well as UNRWA schools as PA employees who hold
refugee cards are placing their children in UNRWA-administered
schools due to the strike in the PA-administered schools. For
rich people they moved their children to private schools or Islamic
affiliated schools.
— Tawjihi students are falling behind
fast.
— Students of the 10th grade are especially
going to face difficult times as a new curriculum is being introduced.
— Child labour is increasing among
students, in which some of them are selling stuff and goods at
road intersections.
— Increase in the number of students
who collect IDF detritus (especially iron materials) to be sold
at low prices.
— Damage to school property and assets
as students are using the school as a playground for longer perios
than they used to in the past. The absence of a school guard might
encourage the children to raid the school and cause damage to
it.
— Teachers are looking for external
jobs and are willing to emigrate.
— Teachers are taking odd jobs (taxis
drivers, labor in Israel...) to guarantee income for their families.
— Teachers are less respected by their
students.
— It is expected that a large participation
of teachers (and PA employees in general) will participate heavily
in the olive picking season to find an alternative source of income.
— Teachers are having to home farm
to provide income for their families.
— Some teachers head towards Israel
for illegal employment.
Security
— Increased bribery for policemen,
especially traffic policemen.
— Loss of legitimacy of police action
in the eye of the residents.
— Law enforcement measures have been
reduced to a large degree.
— Increased reliance on traditional
tribal law as fighting between families is on the rise.
— Law enforcement personnel are looking
for private enterprises and other alternative sources of income.
— The increased competition between
Fatah and Hamas has raised the price of weapons which might tempt
some law enforcement personnel to sell their weaponries.
— Increased incidents of blackmail
and threats of kidnapping in return for a ransom. Internationals
are not excluded.
— Increased criminal incidents and
possibility of house burglary.
— Security personnel are not joining
their troops in the set times and dates. Resentment of the chain
of command among lower ranks.
— Prisoners are becoming a burden on
security agencies guarding them.
Health
— In governmental hospitals, only life
saving units are not on strike: dialysis units, cancer units and
A+E units.
— No immunization is taking place for
those wanting to participate in Umra and, if the strike continues,
pilgrimage to Mecca.
— Private and NGO hospitals are inclined
to refuse PA case transfer due to the inability of the PA to meet
its financial obligation.
— Increase of the use of herbal and
traditional medicines.
— No large increase in the patient
admittance in the private hospitals as they cannot afford to pay
for them. This fact gives rise to the impression that a large
number of people are suffering quietly and unnoticed.
— An increase in the burden on national
and international NGOs-affiliated hospitals and clinics. The same
is for UNRWA clinics and health facilities.
— Private hospitals are requesting
down-payments before admitting patients in as there has been an
increase in the number of patients leaving the hospital without
paying the dues.
— Increase in the number of incidents
of giving birth at home.
— Pharmacies are accumulating debts
as patients are unable to pay for their necessary drugs and medications.
— Decrease the quantity of medications
in the governmental hospitals due to the strike of the central
General Stores associated with the Ministry of Health.
— Public health will be affected as
the smuggling of expired goods is on the increase which might
lead to cases of food poisoning.
Economic
— No VAT documents have been issued.
— The market is filled with expired
and smuggled goods.
— Increased restrictions on giving
loans by commercial banks and other loaning agencies.
— The lack of internal revenue for
the PA budget. Such revenue used to exceed $300 million a month.
— People continued to sell their valued
assets (jewelry and land) as to make ends meet.
— No import or export authorization.
— Non-PA employees are more financially
burdened to support their close relatives.
Social
— No payment for social cases through
the Ministry of Social Affairs.
— The Ministry of Social Affairs is
not capable of providing the list of hard social cases to any
organization that might be intending to provide relief services.
— Increase of disputes as more people
will not be able to meet their obligations.
— Increase of tension and domestic
violence as men are no longer seen as producers and breadwinners.
— Decrease in social interaction and
family visits as no resources are available, mainly in the holy
month of Ramadan.
Civil Affairs
— No registration of the newborn and
marriage certificates.
— No immunization due to the lack of
birth certificates.
— Driving licenses are not being renewed,
as well as no car registration, which would also affect the insurance
industry.
— No issuance of passports which affects
patients and students who wish to pursue their education abroad
as well those going to do pilgrimage, among others. There has
been a number of cases of patients with cancer who cannot access
Jordan, Egypt or any other countries for medications due to lack
of passports. It has been the case that the Ministry of Interior's
offices in Ramallah (the virtual capital of the Palestinian Authority)
have been on partial strike which allowed the issuance of passports
for "especially hard" cases. As of Monday 2 October,
2006, the employees of the Ministry have declared a full strike
with no one attending their offices.
— No issuance of personal IDs, restricting
the movement of individuals.
— Delay of court cases. As of today,
courts' employees are going to their work place yet are not providing
services. As of Saturday 7 October, 2006, it is planned that they
won't go to the courts to begin with.
— Civil defense is on strike including
the fire department.
5. As for the Temporary International Mechanism
(TIM), it had had some relieving effect especially on teachers
as ever since partial payments of the salary (although not defined
in the TIM as such) some of the teachers have gone back to give
three lectures per day (as opposed to total strike). Yet, when
talking to a number of doctors and teachers (who are supposed
to be the elite of the Palestinian society due to the crucial
jobs they are performing), they have expressed feelings of humiliation
and degradation regarding the method used in dispersing the grant
as they are forced to stay in long lines at the banks with a piece
of paper identifying them and their claim number. In the past,
their salaries used to go directly into their accounts and they
would use an ATM Card to get it in an honorable way.
Issue 3: The challenges faced by the UN in addressing
humanitarian affairs in the Palestinian territories and in service
provision, and its effectiveness in meeting those challenges
6. When talking to a number of UN employees,
we have found out that the UN is finding itself in a perplexing
position. On the one hand, the UN has declared that it neither
has the intention nor the capacity to replace the PA and to provide
services to the Palestinian people in the same capacity as the
PA. On the other hand, the UN is very well aware of the detrimental
consequences of the continuing deterioration of the PA and the
humanitarian consequences of its inability to provide the services
it is supposed to provide, which forces the UN to provide humanitarian
relief in some capacity. Ideally, Israeli would recognise its
responsibility as an Occupying Power towards the Palestinians
and provide the needed services to keep the welfare of the occupied
people as required by International Law. Yet, it is unlikely that
Israel would do this, which puts both the UN and the international
community in the position of having to fill that role, out of
concern for the wellbeing of the Palestinians living under occupation.
It could be seen that the UN and international community are subsidizing
the occupation and letting Israel off the hook while the UN looks
upon as part of humanitarian mandate to relieve human suffering.
Another dimension of that dilemma is that UN
employees and institutions feel that humanitarian needs must be
met and that it would be best met through the already-existing
mechanism of the ministries of the PA. Yet, they are faced with
the fact that the UN is part of the Quartet (the UN, Russia, the
EU and the United States) which have declared that in order for
the assistance to flow once again, the Hamas-led PA must recognize
Israel and renounce terrorism, a political position the UN has
never expressed before. Such a position has a number of paralyzing
effects on a number of levels in the UN and its institutions working
in the Palestinian Territory.
7. Another challenge impeding the work of the
UN (and other international organizations) in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory is the restrictions imposed upon its employees by Israeli
authorities (especially the Israeli Defense Forces and the Israeli
Border Police). During our stay in the Territory, we have found
that international organizations working in the area of Hebron
are confronted with hurdles aimed at impeding their access to
the H2 section of the City of Hebron. National staff of these
organizations are prevented from accessing, for example, the Tel
Rumeida area. As for national staff of these organizations, they
are required to coordinate 24 hours before accessing the afore-mentioned
area which is not feasible at the case of an emergency. Such restrictions
are also applied to members of the International Temporary Presence
in Hebron (TIPH) whose mandate specifically indicates their ability
to reach any given point in H2 without any prior coordination
with the relevant Israeli authorities. Moreover, Israeli authorities
have recently reduced the number of access points into H2 from
four to only one. Israeli authorities justify such a reduction
as necessary to coordinate the access of the affected international
organizations in a more efficient manner. Yet, when speaking to
TIPH and members of other affected organizations, they feel that
delays at the only possible entry point have been frequent despite
repeated complaints to the relevant Israeli authorities.
8. Another obstacle facing the UN and other
international organizations in the Palestinian Territory is a
general atmosphere of intimidation against its employees by Israeli
settlers which leads them to work in an environment of fear and
worry. Such intimidation was reflected in a letter that was issued
by the "Jewish Community of Hebron" and handed over
to members of international organizations in which it was mentioned
that "your (internationals) antagonistic attitudes and activities
prevent us (members of the Jewish Community) from receiving you
with open arms". Furthermore, it stated that "your behavior
here in Hebron is reminiscent of thousands of years of Christian
persecution for Jews for no other reason than that they are Jews"
and that "foreigners, like yourselves, and our murderous
Arab neighbours are the true invaders and occupiers of our land".
Issue 4. The impact on development in
the Palestinian Territories of Israel's disengagement from Gaza
and the possibility of further disengagement from parts of the
West Bank.
9. The Israeli settlers in Gaza were among the
most extreme and socially "difficult". We don't have
much specific information on this point, except that several of
our contacts in Hebron expressed concern that many of those same
people have come to live in extreme settler outposts in places
including Hebron, increasing tension and violence by settlers
(see elsewhere). Due to the pull-out, these people typically do
not recognise the legitimacy of the state of Israel so are far
more prone to lawlessness.
Issue 6. The impact of the separation
barrier and other controls on the movement of goods and people
on employment, poverty, economic development and on the delivery
of humanitarian assistance.
10. The ability of the Palestinian people to
assert land rights in the face of either settlement expansion
or separation wall construction is critical to achieving a just
political solution to the conflict. Opportunistic occupation of
land by Israeli settlers occurs frequently and uninhabited or
uncultivated land is particularly vulnerable. Israeli law designates
all land left uncultivated for more than three years as state
land and the Israeli administration often cites this in order
to take ownership of private land. For these reasons continuing
access to land for Palestinians is essential in order to assert
their rights of ownership. In addition to problems of access,
many families are forced to abandon land or housing due to associated
factors such as intimidation by settlers or soldiers and travel
times to schools, workplaces or commercial centres.
11. Building permits are routinely denied by
the Israeli authorities to Palestinians wishing to construct on
land designated as "Area C" by the Oslo agreements.
Land is monitored by aerial photographs and demolition orders
are placed on all buildings constructed since 1967. As a result
of this housing quality is extremely poor in many villages within
Area C with many people living in tents or temporary shelters.
Recently constructed clinics and school buildings are facing demolition
orders such as the clinic in Tuba village. Development assistance
is needed to help inhabitants to improve their housing conditions,
and to provide advocacy support for those facing demolition orders
on buildings.
12. In Bethlehem we were introduced to one of
many people cut off from their land (and in this case his business
too) by the separation barrier (in his case, a 9 metre wall).
The barrier cuts deep into Palestinian territory in order to enclose
Rachel's Tomb on the Israeli side of the wall, following a path
through his land and along what was previously the main Jerusalem-Bethlehem
road, leaving his shop on the Israeli side. He has received zero
compensation. Through a translator we were able to establish that
he was granted a permit to travel through a security gate in the
wall to his shop, but that for the past month the border police
refuse even to recognise that and insist that the gate remains
locked. He wept as he told us that his livelihood had been destroyed
by this action.
13. We had the privilege of visiting several
international organisations in Hebron, including the UN Office
for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Temporary
International Presence in the city of Hebron (TIPH). OCHA's published
closure maps and a tour of the city demonstrate that—as
mentioned before—access to the central (Israeli-controlled)
H2 area of Hebron is now severely restricted. Emergency services
(for Palestinians, not Israeli settlers) and international organisations
now face massive problems and delays entering the area of the
old city in which several settlements are situated (centred around
Al Shohada Street) via one single checkpoint. TIPH informed us
that even they, who according to their mandate should have special
privileges, are now having difficulty gaining access to Israeli
controlled areas. Taking into account the extra distance to be
travelled in order to avoid the roadblocks and closures, and the
potential long delays at checkpoints, there is a significant humanitarian
risk posed by delays to emergency services: there is a high incidence
of miscarriages and stillbirths and documented cases of deaths
that would easily have been prevented with prompt medical attention
which was denied to them. The already restricted number of vehicular
entry points to central Hebron has been recently reduced from
four to just one. The number of access points for the whole city
to the by-pass roads surrounding it (Road 60, 315 and 35) has
been reduced from eleven to just two, both of which pass through
neighbouring towns and are unfit for the purposes of a major trading
city.
14. In the far south of the West Bank, as
well as the well-documented effects of the separation barrier,
we were shown how Route 317 has separated the local Palestinian
population from their lands. The enduring poverty and building
restrictions also mean that the road separates parts of the population
from their cisterns and water sources. We also saw how the end
of the road to local hub town Yatta had been blocked by an earth
mound, rendering the road useless and invisible to all but the
most attentive.
15. Finally, the separation barrier is—according
to several official reports—disrupting normal water flows
from the hills, diverting about 80% of surface water, which of
course has massive environmental and economic ramifications.
Issue 7. The control that the network
of settlements in the occupied territories have over the basic
conditions for the development of the Palestinian economy: agricultural
land, water, movement of persons and goods, environmental impacts.
16. The positioning of settlements we have
seen often seems to be strategic with the intention of surrounding
and strangulating Palestinian owned areas, particularly in East
Jerusalem.
17. Ma'ale Adummim is a settlement in East
Jerusalem which is growing fast—it now numbers 32,000 and
is anticipated to reach 75,000 in five years time. The large industrial
estate linked to the settlement does not provide employment for
the residents of the settlement, except at management level. The
workers are Palestinians, the poorest paid of whom are employed
at hourly rates of 10 NIS, half Israel's minimum wage. The labour
law applied by the Israelis is the Jordanian law as it stood at
1967. The Israelis plan 13 such industrial areas in the Occupied
Territories. The wall in East Jerusalem has cut off Palestinian
villages which had become suburbs wholly dependent on the Jerusalem
economy (the East Jerusalem economy accounts for 40% of GDP in
the occupied territories). People are left with the choice of
living in houses on the Jerusalem side of the wall highly likely
to be subject to Demolition Orders but being able to work in Jerusalem,
or of living in secure housing on the other side but being unemployed.
The impact on employment is massive, and leaves people no choice
but to work for low wages in such industrial areas.
18. Palestinians use of the new roads linking
settlements across the West Bank is limited. Delays at checkpoints
are a deterrent on 365km of roads. People working in Jerusalem
leave themselves an extra two hours in the morning in case they
are stopped and delayed. Some roads, 245km, are closed to Palestinians
without a permit and 120km are totally closed to Palestinians
(with restriction signs only in Hebrew and Arabic). A further
disincentive is the high cost of Israel's road tax and insurance
which is prohibitive for most Palestinians and which is required,
and often requested by the IDF on Israeli roads in the Occupied
Territories.
19. One particular story is worth telling. Near
the village of Nahhalin, a 100 acre farm known as "The Tent
of Nations" in the ownership of the Nassar family since 1916
is surrounded on four sides by settlements: Newe Danniyel, Nahal
Gevaot, Betar Illit and Rosh Zurim. The access road to the farm
and to the Palestinian village of Nahhalin from Route 60 has been
blocked by the IDF. In 1998-99, neighbouring settlers attempted
to build a road through the property and were stopped only by
an injunction obtained by the family. In 2001, settlers uprooted
250 olive trees, came onto the property and threatened the elderly
mother of the family with a gun.
20. The Nassar family has spent $150,000 (raised
through international support) on asserting their legal right
to the land with the case now stalled in the Supreme Court—probably
because they have unassailable title, which the Israelis do not
want to be affirmed by the court. Four years ago they obtained
an injunction (because of the total failure of the Israeli government
lawyer to prepare his case in the time given) against settlers
coming onto their land. Now that it looks like the settlers will
not be able to obtain the land by force, oppression, or by legal
means the Nassar family have had a telephone call from settler
offering them a blank cheque if they will sell the land.
21. The farm is in Area C and as such no buildings
are allowed on the land without a building permit. An Israeli
surveyor (employed at a cost of $70,000 to verify title by visiting
London and Turkey to research British Mandate and Ottoman records)
told them he could obtain a building permit for the land at a
cost of $400,000. They have no mains water or electricity. In
contrast to their land, the farm land belonging to the nearby
settlements is irrigated.
22. The family is developing the site to be
a resource to the nearby city of Bethlehem. They, with the help
of international and local volunteers, run children's camps and
are keen to develop vocational training. The building of the wall
between them and Bethlehem will leave them, three Palestinian
villages and other farmers surrounded by a fence with their only
access to Bethlehem via a tunnel under route 60. This tunnel will
be controlled by the IDF or border police and will be liable to
closure at whim.
23. Settlements are often built on land belonging
to nearby Palestinian villages. As a result villages have no room
to expand. In a society where families stay living in very close
proximity by building new houses, this is causing disruption to
family life and contributing to all the usual indicators of family
breakdown.
24. In Bethlehem an access road to Betar Illit
settlement cuts a valley in two. The road is fenced and has motion
sensors. It is therefore impossible for Palestinians to access
the substantial olive grove in the valley for the olive harvest,
or for tending the trees. It is feared that in the near future
Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint leading to the settlement
and the lands in between will require Palestinians desiring to
reach their lands to have permits to be granted access. In order
to be granted such a permit, Palestinians must prove their ownership
of the land which is a tough task (if not impossible) as lands
are usually registered in the name of the great-grandfather and
no official deed exists in the name of the current members of
the extended families. In many other places in the West Bank we
have been told that settlers harass and assault people during
the olive harvest. Children are given time off school for the
harvest which is gathered by the whole community. The assaults
and harassment are witnessed by the many internationals that come
and help with the harvest providing, in effect, a human shield.
25. In two well documented incidents poison
has been put by settlers onto nearby grazing land near Suseya.
26. Access to water is a key issue in the
West Bank with Israel controlling an estimated 84% of water supplies.
We encountered many examples where Israeli settlements have been
given access to water while neighbouring Palestinian villages
or hamlets are refused connection to supplies. As well as causing
suffering, the lack of water is hampering efforts on the behalf
of Palestinians to cultivate their land and carry out farming.
This therefore contributes to the risk that land may be abandoned
by owners due to the difficulties of living there, or land being
left uncultivated resulting in annexation by the Israeli authorities.
27. Adjacent to the settlement of Karmel,
located in the south of the Governorate of Hebron, there is a
filling point for a water pipe. Settlers have refused access to
the water tanker to replenish the tank especially in this year
as drought has effectively hit the area surrounding the settlement.
Not only settlers prevented water tankers from filling from the
filling point (which would have reduced the costs of the drought
relief effort carried out by two international organizations working
in the area), they have complained to the Israeli Water Company
that the drought relief effort is reducing the water pressure
in the settlement. As to add insult to injury, Karmel settlers
used to dump their sewage into adjacent Palestinian lands rendering
it not suitable for agricultural purposes. In Hebron city, settlers
at Tel Rumeida have repeatedly cut the water pipe to the homes
below them with a chainsaw. As at 2 October Palestinians living
beneath the settlement have been without water for 23 days. At
the settlement of Susiya, south of Hebron, settlers were able
to work out the arrival time for the tanker delivering drought
relief water to adjacent Palestinian communities and put spikes
on the road to disable the tanker. The driver of the truck spent
at least two hours trying to change the tire on his truck with
simple tools while feraring that the settlers would continue their
aggression and attack him. Such attacks are not uncommon as masked
settlers from Susiya have carried out a number of attacks on the
nearby Palestinian communities including an attack on a 70-year
man while he was in his tent in the last week of September 2006.
28. We have heard of two separate ongoing situations
where children have been harassed on their way to school.
— There is a primary school at Twani
south of Hebron. Children from the nearby community of Tuba had
to walk to school past the settlement of Ma'on and its associated
outpost of Ma'on Farm which lies on the main short road leading
to Twani. The students (ages between six and 10 years) were frequently
harassed and attacked by settlers living in the outpost. In order
to avoid the harassment, these young children used to take the
long route to get to the school which added an additional 6 kilometers
and an additional 1.5 hours to their daily trip to the school.
A Christian Peacemaker Team of internationals moved to the area
to accompany the children and this team were assaulted by settlers
on at least three occasions. During one of the most dangerous
attacks, a CPT member suffered a punctured lung and was hospitalized
for three weeks, and another suffered a broken arm and hand. Given
the severity of the attack and the fact that the injured were
internationals, enough pressure was applied on the Israeli Ministry
of Defense as to issue its orders to the IDF and the Israeli Police
to provide mobile escort for the children to and from Tuba to
continue their education.
— In Hebron girls going to the Qurduba
school in the Old City were subject to abuse and stoning from
settlers from the settlement of Beit Hadassa facing the school.
The girls have to be accompanied to and from school by the international
Ecumenical Accompaniment team working in the area due to repeated
attacks by the settler children. Moreover, the TIPH has built
a pathway for the students so they did not have to walk along
the un-rehabilitated and unprotected road leading to the school.
Settlers ripped up 26 sq m of newly laid cobbles. That was despite
the fact that the location of the road is guarded by at least
three military points.
29. The settlements in and around Hebron have
caused massive disruption to daily life due to the security measures
the Israelis have put in place. Hebron is the major commercial
city of Palestinian territories and is vital for the nation's
development. As mentioned above, of the original 11 access roads
to the city onto and off surrounding bypass roads, only two are
now open. This has caused severe congestion on minor and inadequate
roads lengthening journey times, labour and fuel costs.
Issue 8. The role of civil society, including
NGOs, in ensuring a broad popular participation in the development
of Palestinian society.
30. Palestine is awash with NGOs—local
and international—but many of our contacts and associates
feel that the former fail to make a proportionate positive impact.
This can certainly be partly explained by the oppressive environment
in which they are working. However, one can also take into account:
— that there is not enough emphasis
upon empowerment but instead provision of aid; the result is increasing
aid dependence and, as several people suggested, Israel getting
"a cheap occupation" with international NGOs picking
up the bill;
— that NGOs and civil society activity
is overly concentrated in the urban areas, whereas they are arguably
far more needed in the rural areas (for instance, the Tent of
Nations run heavily over-subscribed educational and social programmes
in Nahhalin (pop 8,000) whereas they are 400+ NGOs competing—and
struggling—for participants down the road in Bethlehem);
— that, with the exception of Oxfam
and Christian Peacemaker Teams (we were told by third party sources),
international NGOs perceive themselves to be dependent upon Israel's
goodwill and so are unwilling to tackle the root causes of the
conflict;
— that there is a severe lack of co-ordination
and joined-up thinking at the grass roots, so key community figures
are isolated and unable to mobilise effective social movement.
This can be partly put down to social structuring (for example,
family and clan networks) but also very related to travel restrictions
and the division of the West Bank into "cantons".
Issue 9. The role of development assistance
in supporting political solutions to the conflict.
31. The withdrawal of aid and development assistance
following the victory of Hamas in elections has caused economic
conditions which are promoting unrest. There is widespread disillusionment
with those in leadership and with the political process. Many
people expressed their opinion that given the current leadership
vacuum and lack of vision on behalf of the Palestinian Authority
(as well as the Israeli Government), they felt that dissolving
the PA altogether was the best way forward.
32. Given the failure of top down political
processes, the most encouraging leadership appears to be coming
from active community builders and grass-roots projects. Targeted
development assistance is needed to support these type of initiatives.
To support this, improved infrastructure and greater opportunities
for economic development are needed in order to create an environment
in which radical political groups are less likely to find support,
and in which political solutions can be sought.
Recommendations
— For the committee to send regular
delegations to Palestine, hosted by OCHA, who suggest three days
would be sufficient.
On top of that, to establish regular phone contact
with key community figures such as Zoughbi Zoughbi (director of
Wi'am) in order to maintain a good quality and ongoing sense of
events, feelings, etc in Palestine. Those individuals are also
willing to give oral evidence to the committee, although travel
restrictions mean that this would probably need to be planned
well in advance.
— (An example of a successful intervention
to assist Palestinian residents to assert their land rights was
a DFID project in the area south of Hebron close to the village
of Tuba. The local population were mostly cave dwellers who had
lived on the land for most of the last century. As the land is
in the Israeli controlled Area C they have been unable to obtain
building permits. The project assisted the inhabitants in the
construction of cisterns to collect rainwater and of bathrooms
which in particular enabled modesty and sanitary conditions for
women.)
Reinstate DFID funding for cisterns and toilet
blocks in the south east of the West Bank (to the east of Suseya),
withdrawn in 2005. This project was of massive value to the local
Palestinian communities, enabling them to continue to live in
the land in the face of settler violence, pressure from the IDF,
and the refusal of ALL land development/building rights (it is
Area C under the Oslo Agreement). Several people commented that
DFID was for a time "the best, most progressive funder"
but that that was no longer the case; they suggested that in this
particular case Israeli pressure had encouraged DFID to divest.
The corresponding money has since been channelled to the PA police
TO LITTLE OR NO POSITIVE EFFECT. In fact, many of those toilet
blocks and cisterns have either been demolished or face demolition
orders: we strongly recommend that the British government resists
diplomatic pressure from Israel and challenges their demolition
rulings over this case.
— Review the issue of aid funding and
explore opportunities for providing direct funding to NGO's and
community organisations operating within the Palestinian territories
(ie not go through the PA), and to support networking and co-operation
between grass-roots movement.
Mike Love, Ed Carlisle, Steve Watters and
James Clayton
October 2006
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