Think of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and you’re likely to think of the conflict. The impact of this conflict is profoundly felt by Israelis and Palestinians alike. But while the daily climate of fear is shared, the economic cost is primarily borne by Palestinians, who are being plunged into poverty.
It’s not exciting or photogenic, but Palestinian poverty is as crippling a part of the conflict as suicide bombs or military incursions.
Sixty-four per cent of the Palestinian population now exist on less than £1.10 a day – below the official UN poverty line – compared to 20% in 1998. The Gaza Strip, a narrow sliver of land with a huge concentration of refugees, has been effectively sealed off from the world, and the latest blockade means not even the minimum of humanitarian supplies of medicines and food are getting in.
Palestinian life is dominated by a lack of money to buy food, severe movement restrictions and the collapse of public services. Palestinian society is falling deeper into poverty and despair.
Creating poverty
Responsibility for the current humanitarian crisis rests principally with Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Since 1967, Palestinians have been losing land and have consequently seen the promise of a secure future slip away.
Actions by the Israeli government, usually on security grounds, such as military incursions, land annexations and movement restrictions, have created a situation of de-development – a systematic stripping away of the ingredients of a viable Palestinian economy and society. Individually, these acts would not be enough to cause extreme poverty. But together they add up to a devastating armoury of policies that have dismantled an already weak economy.
International responsibilities
Israeli government actions that impoverish Palestinians violate international humanitarian law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Hague Regulations. For example, under international law, Israel as an occupying power must not transfer its citizens into occupied territory but its policy of constructing settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories consistently violates this ruling. Other policies violate UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, which call for Israel to withdraw from territories occupied in 1967.
The Palestinian Authority, marked by lack of resources, corruption and inefficiency under the previous administration and beset by violent conflict between Hamas and Fatah after the 2006 elections, has failed to tackle poverty. It has also violated human rights. Current efforts towards dialogue between Hamas and Fatah will need international support if they are to succeed and the Palestinians to be reunited under common leadership in the near future.
The UK government and the rest of the European Union have the authority to make international law meaningful. That they have not done so means that the downward spiral of Palestinian daily life is their responsibility, too.
Our humanitarian mandate
We support Israeli and Palestinian organisations working on human rights and access to services and resources. Our partners such as B’Tselem, Al Haq and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights monitor human rights, provide legal services and advocate for the protection of human rights. In Israel, we work through Kav La’oved to protect workers’ rights and we also support Addameer, an organisation working with Palestinian political prisoners.
We have partners that strive to build bridges between Palestinians and Israelis –such as Parents’ Circle, which unites bereaved families on both sides of the divide, and Israeli Physicians for Human Rights, which runs mobile clinics in the West Bank. Others, such as the Near East Council of Churches in Gaza, provide direct aid through mother and child clinics.
The Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee trains farmers in organic farming to help them to earn a better living and the YMCA supports women’s efforts to improve their household income and provides rehabilitation and vocational training for people with disabilities.
It is these partners who inform our views and compel us to take a stand. We know – from our own and our partners’ firsthand experiences – the cost of injustice.
Agencies such as Christian Aid have a duty to fulfil their humanitarian mandate and to meet immediate needs, especially in times of emergency. But our role, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel as elsewhere, is also to speak out about the causes of poverty.