Israeli barrier will severely impact Palestinians in Jerusalem area - UN
Israel's construction of a separation barrier will severely impact the lives of Palestinians in the Jerusalem area in wide-ranging activities from education to health care to relief and social services, according to a report released today by the main United Nations agency helping Palestine refugees. The report by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the first in a series of regular updates, notes that 260 students out of a total 7,246 attending UNRWA schools, along with 86 out of 263 teachers, will be affected in their daily movements by the barrier, which will cut them off from places of learning. http://www.un.org/unrwa/emergency/barrier/profiles/jerusalem.pdf
"Beyond logistical problems of access, proximity of the schools to the barrier site is likely to have a psychologically disruptive effect on all students and teachers alike," it says. Israel explains the need for the Wall as a direct response to Palestinian suicide attacks from across the Green Line (separating Israel and the occupied territories), intended to prevent infiltration by Palestinian militants. While it is so far impossible to determine how many of the more than 9,000 students attending schools run by the Palestinian Authority will be impacted, the number will most likely be considerable, the report says.
On health care, it notes that the barrier will directly affect access to UNRWA's Jerusalem Health Centre, which treated more than 27,000 patients in the August-October period last year, about 60 per cent of whom came from the city's outskirts and will therefore face delays and obstructions. Two other health centres will be separated from surrounding areas. "Also access of refugees to secondary and tertiary care in Jerusalem hospitals will be severely hampered," the report adds. UNRWA says a "remarkable number" of barrier-related accidents involving falling or slipping are being reported. "Apparently some grease is spread at the bottom of the barrier, in order to discourage or damage 'infiltrators'," the agency notes. Noting that the barrier already built in northern areas of the West Bank is "clearly resulting in impoverishment," the report predicts a "similar effect" in the Jerusalem area." In a separate development, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is considering a case concerning the "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," today granted a request by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to participate in the proceedings.
UN News Centre: http://www.un.org/news
Related Articles:
UN agency condemns Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes, calls for new funds http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=9517&Cr=UNRWA&Cr1=
Israeli operation destroys 36 buildings in Gaza refugee camp - UN agency
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=9494&Cr=unrwa&Cr1=
From the International Court of Justice:
Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall
in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Request for advisory opinion
The Court authorizes the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
to participate in the proceedings
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2004/ipresscom2004-02_mwp_20040122.htm
The Court authorizes the League of Arab States to participate in the proceedings
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2004/ipresscom2004-01_mwp_20040115.htm
Order organizing the proceedings
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2003/ipresscom2003-44_mwp_20031219.htm
The Order
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idocket/imwp/imwporder/imwp_iorder_20031219.PDF
The General Assembly of the United Nations requests an advisory opinion from the Court on the legal consequences arising from the construction by Israel of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2003/ipresscom2003-42_xx_20031210.htm
Please also see;
Arafat Hopes for ICJ Just Verdict, PLO Urges Testimonies at The Hague
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20040118181120266
Palestinian farmers appeal to Supreme Court as Israel begins construction of wall around Kiryat Arba settlement January 21, 2004;
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/updates/farmers_appeal_to_supreme_court.htm
Photo courtesy of The Palestinian Chronicle: http://www.palestinechronicle.com
Please also read:
Thursday, January 22, 2004
TREES NOT WALLS!
Hundreds March to Plant Trees
[Budrus, RAMALLAH] Hundreds of Palestinians - men and women, old and young,
Israelis and Internationals from at least 12 different countries* braved the
pouring rain today and marched to plant olive tree saplings where the
Israeli government has destroyed trees to build what it calls a "Security
Wall." The aims of today's action were:
- To take back the land illegally and unjustly bulldozed for the wall (two weeks ago, a beautiful family olive grove)
- To call for the International Court of Justice in the Hague to rule against the Wall
- To show the Israeli Occupation Forces that the village will not stop their peaceful resistance, despite being shot, beaten and jailed.
Sixty Internationals and Israelis joined over 250 Palestinians and marched down to stand in front of the machines flattening the village's farmland for the path of the Wall. Upon sighting the crowd, the earthmovers digging up the land stopped working and pulled back. The villagers set to work planting 50 of the 500 olive trees (previously reported as 100) donated to the village by Rabbis for Human Rights. As the villagers were planting the trees on their land, the Border Police arrived and announced to the Israelis in Hebrew that Israelis had 15 minutes to clear the area so the Border Policemen could then "deal with the Palestinians". If the Israelis did not leave, they would be arrested. The villagers, not wanting their supporters and guests to be hurt, asked everyone to retreat for the day.
The villagers, having planted 50 trees today announced that they would not stop their resistance to the destruction and confiscation of their land and the attempt to turn their village into a walled-in ghetto. They thanked everyone standing with them and called on the international community not to turn a blind eye to this crime against humanity being executed in the 21st Century.
"And we say to Sharon, 'you may have the weapons to destroy our land and lives, but you do not have the weapons to destroy our spirit, and so we will not stay silent, and our friends will not let you destroy us silently", said one villager, Fayed Ahmed.**
Budrus and the neighboring villages of Nihilin, Qibbya, and Medea stand to lose 90% of their land to the Wall. The Wall is being built in a circle around these villages and there will only be one gate to let villagers in and out. In other villages where the land has been destroyed and the Wall completed, gates remain almost permanently closed.
Budrus village has managed to stop the building of the Wall through peaceful sit-ins on the land and the bulldozers. However, the response from the Israeli Occupation Forces has been extreme - over 60 villagers have been injured by rubber coated metal bullets, troops invade Budrus and open fire with live bullets, 10 activists are imprisoned (including young children), and women and children alike are beaten and heavily gassed at each demonstration. The organizers of the village's nonviolent resistance have been abducted from their homes in the middle of the night by the Israeli military.
Good News: Tonight, Ayed Morrar was released after 8 days of interrogation and abuse. Thank you to everyone who called and wrote to the Israeli authorities on behalf of Ayed, Nai'm and the other villagers of Budrus imprisoned for their resistance to the Wall. Nai'm and the other villagers remain in Israeli custody.
Please continue to pressure your members of parliament and government representatives to speak out and act against Israel's violations of Palestinian human rights. Please do continue to call and write to the Israeli authorities about Na'im Ahmed Hussein Morrar and those from Budrus, imprisoned for their active but peaceful resistance.
Ofer Prison
+972-2 588-4202 or +972-2 588-4348
Israeli Prison Service Spokesman
Tel: +972 8 977 6806
Minister of Justice, Yosef Lapid
Phone: +972-2-646-6527
Fax: 0+972-2-628-5438
Military Attorney General, Brig. General Menahem Finkelstein
Fax: +972-3-569-4370
Meir Sheetrit, Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice, 29 Saleh al-Din Street
Jerusalem, 91010
Israel
Fax: +972 2 628 8618
E-Mail: sar@justice.gov.il
Mrs Orit Adato
Commissioner, Israeli Prison Service
Fax: +972 8 921 0649
For pictures from today's demonstration, please see: http://www.palsolidarity.org
* Countries represented: Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland,
France, Iceland, Japan, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, United States +
Israelis
** Pseudonym used for purpose of protection.
For more information, please contact:
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
http://www.palsolidarity.org
Israel's construction of a separation barrier will severely impact the lives of Palestinians in the Jerusalem area in wide-ranging activities from education to health care to relief and social services, according to a report released today by the main United Nations agency helping Palestine refugees. The report by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the first in a series of regular updates, notes that 260 students out of a total 7,246 attending UNRWA schools, along with 86 out of 263 teachers, will be affected in their daily movements by the barrier, which will cut them off from places of learning. http://www.un.org/unrwa/emergency/barrier/profiles/jerusalem.pdf
"Beyond logistical problems of access, proximity of the schools to the barrier site is likely to have a psychologically disruptive effect on all students and teachers alike," it says. Israel explains the need for the Wall as a direct response to Palestinian suicide attacks from across the Green Line (separating Israel and the occupied territories), intended to prevent infiltration by Palestinian militants. While it is so far impossible to determine how many of the more than 9,000 students attending schools run by the Palestinian Authority will be impacted, the number will most likely be considerable, the report says.
On health care, it notes that the barrier will directly affect access to UNRWA's Jerusalem Health Centre, which treated more than 27,000 patients in the August-October period last year, about 60 per cent of whom came from the city's outskirts and will therefore face delays and obstructions. Two other health centres will be separated from surrounding areas. "Also access of refugees to secondary and tertiary care in Jerusalem hospitals will be severely hampered," the report adds. UNRWA says a "remarkable number" of barrier-related accidents involving falling or slipping are being reported. "Apparently some grease is spread at the bottom of the barrier, in order to discourage or damage 'infiltrators'," the agency notes. Noting that the barrier already built in northern areas of the West Bank is "clearly resulting in impoverishment," the report predicts a "similar effect" in the Jerusalem area." In a separate development, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is considering a case concerning the "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," today granted a request by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to participate in the proceedings.
UN News Centre: http://www.un.org/news
Related Articles:
UN agency condemns Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes, calls for new funds http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=9517&Cr=UNRWA&Cr1=
Israeli operation destroys 36 buildings in Gaza refugee camp - UN agency
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=9494&Cr=unrwa&Cr1=
From the International Court of Justice:
Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall
in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Request for advisory opinion
The Court authorizes the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
to participate in the proceedings
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2004/ipresscom2004-02_mwp_20040122.htm
The Court authorizes the League of Arab States to participate in the proceedings
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2004/ipresscom2004-01_mwp_20040115.htm
Order organizing the proceedings
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2003/ipresscom2003-44_mwp_20031219.htm
The Order
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idocket/imwp/imwporder/imwp_iorder_20031219.PDF
The General Assembly of the United Nations requests an advisory opinion from the Court on the legal consequences arising from the construction by Israel of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/ipresscom/ipress2003/ipresscom2003-42_xx_20031210.htm
Please also see;
Arafat Hopes for ICJ Just Verdict, PLO Urges Testimonies at The Hague
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=20040118181120266
Palestinian farmers appeal to Supreme Court as Israel begins construction of wall around Kiryat Arba settlement January 21, 2004;
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/updates/farmers_appeal_to_supreme_court.htm
Photo courtesy of The Palestinian Chronicle: http://www.palestinechronicle.com
Please also read:
Thursday, January 22, 2004
TREES NOT WALLS!
Hundreds March to Plant Trees
[Budrus, RAMALLAH] Hundreds of Palestinians - men and women, old and young,
Israelis and Internationals from at least 12 different countries* braved the
pouring rain today and marched to plant olive tree saplings where the
Israeli government has destroyed trees to build what it calls a "Security
Wall." The aims of today's action were:
- To take back the land illegally and unjustly bulldozed for the wall (two weeks ago, a beautiful family olive grove)
- To call for the International Court of Justice in the Hague to rule against the Wall
- To show the Israeli Occupation Forces that the village will not stop their peaceful resistance, despite being shot, beaten and jailed.
Sixty Internationals and Israelis joined over 250 Palestinians and marched down to stand in front of the machines flattening the village's farmland for the path of the Wall. Upon sighting the crowd, the earthmovers digging up the land stopped working and pulled back. The villagers set to work planting 50 of the 500 olive trees (previously reported as 100) donated to the village by Rabbis for Human Rights. As the villagers were planting the trees on their land, the Border Police arrived and announced to the Israelis in Hebrew that Israelis had 15 minutes to clear the area so the Border Policemen could then "deal with the Palestinians". If the Israelis did not leave, they would be arrested. The villagers, not wanting their supporters and guests to be hurt, asked everyone to retreat for the day.
The villagers, having planted 50 trees today announced that they would not stop their resistance to the destruction and confiscation of their land and the attempt to turn their village into a walled-in ghetto. They thanked everyone standing with them and called on the international community not to turn a blind eye to this crime against humanity being executed in the 21st Century.
"And we say to Sharon, 'you may have the weapons to destroy our land and lives, but you do not have the weapons to destroy our spirit, and so we will not stay silent, and our friends will not let you destroy us silently", said one villager, Fayed Ahmed.**
Budrus and the neighboring villages of Nihilin, Qibbya, and Medea stand to lose 90% of their land to the Wall. The Wall is being built in a circle around these villages and there will only be one gate to let villagers in and out. In other villages where the land has been destroyed and the Wall completed, gates remain almost permanently closed.
Budrus village has managed to stop the building of the Wall through peaceful sit-ins on the land and the bulldozers. However, the response from the Israeli Occupation Forces has been extreme - over 60 villagers have been injured by rubber coated metal bullets, troops invade Budrus and open fire with live bullets, 10 activists are imprisoned (including young children), and women and children alike are beaten and heavily gassed at each demonstration. The organizers of the village's nonviolent resistance have been abducted from their homes in the middle of the night by the Israeli military.
Good News: Tonight, Ayed Morrar was released after 8 days of interrogation and abuse. Thank you to everyone who called and wrote to the Israeli authorities on behalf of Ayed, Nai'm and the other villagers of Budrus imprisoned for their resistance to the Wall. Nai'm and the other villagers remain in Israeli custody.
Please continue to pressure your members of parliament and government representatives to speak out and act against Israel's violations of Palestinian human rights. Please do continue to call and write to the Israeli authorities about Na'im Ahmed Hussein Morrar and those from Budrus, imprisoned for their active but peaceful resistance.
Ofer Prison
+972-2 588-4202 or +972-2 588-4348
Israeli Prison Service Spokesman
Tel: +972 8 977 6806
Minister of Justice, Yosef Lapid
Phone: +972-2-646-6527
Fax: 0+972-2-628-5438
Military Attorney General, Brig. General Menahem Finkelstein
Fax: +972-3-569-4370
Meir Sheetrit, Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice, 29 Saleh al-Din Street
Jerusalem, 91010
Israel
Fax: +972 2 628 8618
E-Mail: sar@justice.gov.il
Mrs Orit Adato
Commissioner, Israeli Prison Service
Fax: +972 8 921 0649
For pictures from today's demonstration, please see: http://www.palsolidarity.org
* Countries represented: Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland,
France, Iceland, Japan, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, United States +
Israelis
** Pseudonym used for purpose of protection.
For more information, please contact:
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
http://www.palsolidarity.org