The humanitarian impact of 20 years of the Barrier – December 2022
via
u/sabbah
In
2002, the Israeli authorities started to build a Barrier with the
stated aim of preventing violent attacks by Palestinians inside Israel.
Most of the Barrier’s route is located within the West Bank, rather than
on the 1949 Armistice ‘Green’ Line. The area between the Green Line and
the Barrier is referred to as the ‘Seam Zone’.
The
Barrier is one element of a range of restrictions that Israel has
imposed on Palestinians since 1967, which include physical obstacles,
bureaucratic constraints such as permit requirements and the designation
of areas as restricted or closed. The Barrier consists of concrete
walls, fences, ditches, razor wire, sand paths, an electronic monitoring
system, patrol roads, a buffer zone and several military checkpoints.
The
Barrier’s total length, constructed and projected, is 713 km, more than
twice the length of the Green Line. About 65 per cent of the approved
route is complete.
Eighty-five
per cent of the Barrier’s route runs inside the West Bank. If finished,
as planned, it will isolate 9 per cent of the territory of the West
Bank including East Jerusalem.
Seventy-one Israeli settlements and over 85 per cent of the settler population, are in the ‘Seam Zone’.
Approximately
150 Palestinian communities living in the rest of the West Bank have
farmland located in the ‘Seam Zone’, forcing them to seek special
permits or ‘prior coordination’ to access their crops and flocks.
Farmers
can only reach their land through 69 designated gates which are
controlled by the Israeli authorities and are typically closed. Most
agricultural gates only open during the October-November olive harvest
for a limited time each day.
Around
11,000 Palestinians living in the ‘Seam Zone’ and who hold West Bank ID
cards also depend on the granting of permits or special arrangements to
live in their own homes.
Palestinians
with West Bank ID cards require special permits from the Israeli
authorities to enter East Jerusalem; they may do so through four of the
14 Barrier checkpoints.
On
21 June 2022, ,following a series of attacks in Israel, the Israeli
authorities began repairing and fortifying a 45-km stretch of the
Barrier in the northern West Bank, replacing segments in that section,
to prevent Palestinians entering Israel through unregulated openings.
The
vast majority of the Barrier’s route is located within the West Bank,
separating Palestinian communities and farming land in the ‘Seam Zone’
from the rest of the West Bank and contributing to the fragmentation of
the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The inclusion of
Israeli settlements is the most important factor behind the decision by
the Israeli government to deviate the Barrier’s route away from the
Green Line and into the West Bank.
In its 2004 Advisory Opinion, the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) established that the sections of
the Barrier which run inside the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,
together with the associated permit and gate regime, violate Israel’s
obligations under international law. The ICJ called on the
Israeli authorities to cease the construction of the Barrier, dismantle
the sections already completed, and repeal all legislative measures
related to the Barrier.
The
Barrier blocks Palestinians living in the ‘Seam Zone’ from accessing
their places of work and essential services in the rest of the West
Bank. To continue living in their own homes and to maintain
family and social relations with the rest of the West Bank they must
obtain permits or ’prior coordination’, and pass through Barrier
checkpoints. Access of service providers to these communities, including
ambulances and fire brigades, is likewise impaired.
Agriculture-based
livelihoods of thousands of families have been undermined due to the
gate-and-permit regime, which hinders farmers from accessing their
farming and grazing lands in the ‘Seam Zone’. Permit
applications are regularly rejected on grounds that farmers failed to
prove their ’connection to the land‘ to the satisfaction of the Israeli
authorities, as well as citing security concerns. The almost permanent
closure of all agricultural gates, with limited exceptions, has forced
permit-holders to stop cultivation or to shift from labour-intensive to
rain-fed and lower-value crops.
Between 2014 and 2021, the number of permits requested by landowners and agricultural workers dropped by 77 per cent.
This drop is largely attributed to the high rejection rates of permit
applications, cumbersome application procedures, the issuance of permits
for short periods, and limited gate opening times amongst other
factors. The limitations in accessing land has resulted in a 60 per cent
reduction in yield in land beyond the barrier.
The
Barrier has transformed the geography, economy and social life of
Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, as well as the lives of those
residing in the wider metropolitan area. Neighbourhoods,
suburbs and families have been divided from each other and separated
from the urban centre, and rural communities have been separated from
their land.
Source: https://ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-impact-20-years-barrier-december-2022
