JERUSALEM, February 16, 2010 (WAFA)- A number of incidents across the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) during January highlight the vulnerability of many herder and farming communities, most of them Bedouin, facing poor living conditions, access restrictions and/or risk of displacement, revealed the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its Humanitarian Monitor.
In the West Bank, many of these vulnerable communities are located in the Jordan Valley and in the eastern slopes of the Bethlehem and Hebron governorates, where large tracts of land have been declared closed by the Israeli authorities for military training. In one such community, Khirbet Tana (Nablus), the Israeli military demolished 16 structures, including a school serving 40 children, thus displacing 100 of its 250 residents. Families living in three other communities located in 'closed military zones' received eviction orders during January, placing 76 people at risk of displacement. In another Bedouin community in the Jordan Valley (Ka'abneh), the primary school was served with a stop-work order (the precursor to a demolition order), and their residents began to be required special permits in order to cross the checkpoint controlling access into Jericho city (Yitav), which is their main service center. In 2009, at least 191 structures were demolished in Area C of the West Bank, the large majority of them in 'closed military zones', 20 percent fewer than in 2008.
While poor living conditions and access restrictions affect virtually the entire population of Gaza, some of its most vulnerable residents were the hardest hit by heavy January rains and subsequent flooding in Al Mughraga area: approximately 800 residents, most of them Bedouin, had to be temporarily evacuated from their homes; some 500 of their sheep and goats, as well as hundreds of chickens, perished, and many bee hives were destroyed further undermining their livelihoods. Recent measures adOPTed by the Israeli authorities significantly reduce the ability of humanitarian agencies to provide assistance to the population of, or operate from, East Jerusalem, and may contribute to its further segregation from the rest of the West Bank. Employees of NGOs are being issued tourist visas instead of work visas, which preclude them from working inside Israel. In addition, access of health workers holding West Bank-IDs to East Jerusalem hospitals deteriorated once again in January.
In the Gaza Strip, the ability to bring essential commodities was further reduced this month, due the total closure of the fuel crossing (Nahal Oz) turning Kerem Shalom into the single functional crossing for goods (except for a conveyor belt at Karni Crossing).
The gradual channeling of all humanitarian shipments to Kerem Shalom since the imposition of the blockade has significantly increased the cost of humanitarian deliveries due to its location, lack of storage capacity, and requirement of the Israeli authorities to repackage containers within pallets.
Also this month, in a joint event with the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the OPT, stated that '(t)he continuing closure of the Gaza Strip is undermining the functioning of the health care system… and causing on-going deterioration in the social, economic and environmental determinants of health'.
Easing restrictions on Area C for Palestinian use and ending house demolitions in the West Bank, lifting the blockade over Gaza, and facilitating the operation of humanitarian organizations, are essential to the improvement of the humanitarian situation in the OPT and to the restoration of dignity to its population.
