Closeup 19
Published @ 11.00 hours GMT on August 6, 1997
CLOSURE UPDATE NO. 19
Report by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
on the Closure Imposed by Israel
on the Gaza Strip
Israeli authorities continue to tighten the closure of the Occupied Territories, including areas under the authority of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The strict closure has been in place since the afternoon of July 30, in the aftermath of two unclaimed suicide bombings in Western Jerusalem. Under the new closure measures, Israeli authorities sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip completely, while a comprehensive ban on the movement of goods and individuals between the Palestinian territories through Israel was imposed, and an internal closure was imposed in the West Bank where areas under Palestinian jurisdiction, classified as Area A, are all closed and separated from their rural peripheries, classified as Area B. The steps gradually taken in the past few months to ease the closure have all been canceled. The PCHR has followed the deterioration of the situation in the Palestinian territories in general and in the Gaza Strip in particular. This update monitors and documents the effects of the Israeli closure on the human rights situation in Gaza and its destructive effects on all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip.
In this issue, the following items will be covered:
Israeli authorities closed the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 30. No Palestinians may cross between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
According to the Palestinian border administration, the crossing was also closed to commercial transactions with Egypt. The same sources reported that 207 Palestinian citizens remained held between the Egyptian and Israeli borders for two days. Those people cleared the Egyptian border and moved toward the Israeli side on Wednesday, July 30, awaiting their entry to Gaza. However, Israeli authorities did not allow them into Gaza until Friday evening, August 1 after negotiations between Israel and the PNA.
Additionally, more than 700 Palestinians were held in Al Arish, Egypt, waiting for Israel to allow them to return home to Gaza. They arrived on two flights originating in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, July 31. Hundreds of diaspora Palestinians who traveled to Gaza to visit relatives are unable to return to their places of residence, especially the Arab Gulf countries. The table below shows the number of arrivals and departures through Rafah border on a weekly basis since January 1997. Before the recent tightening of the closure, around 4,000 weekly traveled between the Gaza Strip and the outside world through the Rafah border crossing.
As of Wednesday morning, August 6, the border has been opened partially. Some of those visiting Gaza have been allowed to leave, while some Gazans trapped in Egypt have been allowed to enter.
Arrivals and Departures through Rafah Border
|
Period |
Number of People Entering Gaza |
Number ofPeople Exiting Gaza |
|
1/1-1/7 |
1858 |
2716 |
|
1/8-1/14 |
2461 |
2229 |
|
1/15-1/21 |
2065 |
1387 |
|
1/22-1/28 |
2211 |
1102 |
|
1/29-2/4 |
2335 |
2182 |
|
2/5-2/11 |
1236 |
2049 |
|
2/12-2/18 |
1412 |
2344 |
|
2/19-2/25 |
1957 |
1833 |
|
2/26-3/4 |
1835 |
1649 |
|
3/5-3/11 |
1557 |
1483 |
|
3/12-3/18 |
1510 |
1617 |
|
3/19-3/25 |
1507 |
1732 |
|
3/26-4/1 |
1739 |
1744 |
|
4/9-4/15 |
2458 |
2433 |
|
4/16-4/22 |
1237 |
1669 |
|
4/23-4/29 |
1947 |
2311 |
|
4/30-5/6 |
2705 |
2169 |
|
5/7-5/13 |
2243 |
2274 |
|
5/14-5/20 |
2177 |
1954 |
|
5/21-5/27 |
2148 |
1719 |
|
5/28-6/3 |
2195 |
2089 |
|
6/6-6/10 |
2148 |
2064 |
|
6/11-6/17 |
2530 |
2117 |
|
6/18-6/24 |
2501 |
2308 |
The Jordanian border crossings were sealed off on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 30, as was access to Ben Gurion airport. During the last few months, Israel authorities had gradually started to allow a few people to pass through Israeli territory in order to travel to Jordan and through Ben Gurion airport. The trips to Jordan were restricted to specific dates and passengers went in bus convoys under Israeli guard, but nonetheless, travel was possible. The following table shows the number of people that traveled from the Gaza Strip to Jordan and through Ben Gurion airport in the three months before the closure.
Number of People Traveling to
Jordan and Ben Gurion Airport
|
Date |
Jordan |
Ben Gurion |
|
May 1997 |
1597 |
65 |
|
June 1997 |
2133 |
154 |
|
July 1997 |
3917 |
180 |
The PCHR has been informed by the Palestinian Ministry of Interior that the Israeli authorities have canceled the exit permits of more than 700 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who were supposed to leave for Jordan on Wednesday, July 30, Thursday, July 31 and Sunday, August 3. This included five buses carrying a total of about 250 passengers from the Gaza Strip who arrived at the border crossing on the afternoon of July 30, the date of the suicide bombing. Many of them had finished the exit procedures and paid the travel fees. They were all denied access to the Jordanian side of the border and forced to return to Gaza under Israeli military escort. The Jordanian borders are still sealed to those who want to enter or exit. Accordingly, hundreds of Palestinians who were able to go to Jordan are unable to come back to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while hundreds visiting the Occupied Territories are unable to leave.
Palestinian movement between the West Bank and Gaza Strip is being completely denied. Before the newly imposed closure measures, minimal movement between the two areas was allowed. According to the Ministry of Interior, around 110 West Bank Palestinian residents who had traveled to the Gaza Strip before the closure are now unable to leave Gaza. The Israeli authorities will not allow them to return to their homes in the West Bank.
The new closure measures do not change Israel’s restrictive policy regarding students. Since February 25, 1996, Gazan students who study in West Bank universities have been denied access to their universities. The measures adopted by Israel in the past few months to lessen certain aspects of the closure did not include allowing these students to return to their studies.
After ending the Palestinian Legislative Council session in Ramallah on Thursday, July 31, 18 Gazan members of the Council headed home around 3:00pm. Israeli soldiers at a military checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem prevented their passage, although they hold VIP cards which are meant to enable them to move between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They were held at the checkpoint for seven hours, as their VIP cards were confiscated and held until 10:00pm. The soldiers finally returned their identification and allowed them to return to Ramallah. The members tried to travel to Gaza via an alternate route, where once again they were stopped at a checkpoint, this time between Ramallah and Latrun. The soldiers refused to let them pass, stating that they had orders from their commanders to prevent the Council members from entering Israeli domain. Around midnight, the members returned to Ramallah.
The Gazan Council members were unable to leave until the next day. Even then, their trip took almost 6 hours (instead of the usual hour and fifteen minutes) because of Israeli checkpoints. As a result of the closure and the denial of movement to Council members, Council committee meetings were not convened as scheduled for this week in Gaza. It is unclear whether or not the next Council session, scheduled to be held in Ramallah next week, will be able to convene.
The Legislative Council members hold VIP cards of the second category, which are designed to enable them to move between the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The issuing of these cards was the result of negotiations between Palestinians and Israeli officials after the February 1996 comprehensive closure which resulted, inter alia, in the prohibition of movement of Council members and their corresponding inability to attend meetings in the Gaza Strip. Council meetings in the Gaza Strip have been either canceled or postponed on numerous occasions as a result of Israeli obstructions. According to the agreements reached, second category VIP cards enable the holder to enter Israel or areas under Israeli jurisdiction without the delays and thorough searches that most Palestinians undergo. VIP card holders are allowed to travel in their own vehicles accompanied by a driver, spouse, children and parents. However, despite the fact that Council members hold these VIP cards, their movement between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has been restricted throughout the last few months, interrupting the work of the Council.
Like the borders with Egypt and Jordan, the Karni and Erez borders between Gaza and Israel were sealed on July 30, 1997. On Thursday, July 31, Israel demanded that Palestinian officials at the Karni border permit the import of goods from Israel to Gaza, while Gazan exports remained barred. The Palestinian side refused this arrangement, insisting that the border be opened for exports as well as imports. The Israelis declined, and the border remained closed to both exports and imports. Even Palestinian newspapers published in the West Bank (including Jerusalem) are not being allowed into Gaza.
On August 3, the Erez border was opened to the import of basic necessities such as sugar and flour, but remains closed to exports. The Centre has also been informed that since Tuesday morning, August 5, the border crossing at Karni was opened to import basic necessities. The shortage of staples forced the Palestinians to allow the border to be opened to limited imports although exports are still denied access. According to the Palestinian Minister of Agriculture, under normal conditions, between 150 and 200 tons of vegetables are exported daily through Karni border crossing to Israeli and West Bank markets. With the inability to export, there is a surplus of products in Gaza, and prices are dropping to fifty percent of the usual, resulting in tremendous loses to farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates agricultural losses in the Gaza Strip at $322,000 per day.
The Closure of the Gazan Sea
On the evening of July 30, Israeli military vessels halted the work of Palestinian fishing boats in the Gazan Sea. Gazan fishermen were told to leave the sea and return to the shore within five minutes. The Palestinian boats returned to Gaza immediately, leaving their nets and equipment in the Sea, most of which will be unrecoverable. Including the daily losses resulting from their inability to fish, the total loses incurred by this sector are estimated at $30,000 per day.
It should be noted that the 816 Palestinian boats are all licensed in accordance with the Palestinian-Israeli agreements. Around 4,000 people work in this industry, including 2,500 fisherman, which generates an estimated $3,000,000 annually.
Workers are Denied Access to Their Work in Israel
Israeli authorities have continuously denied access to workers in Israel since Wednesday, July 30. Thousands of Palestinians are out of work as a result. Throughout the years of occupation, the Israeli authorities have attempted to devastate the economic infrastructure of the Gaza Strip, exploiting it as an open market to Israeli products and a source of cheap labor. Income generated by workers in Israel has evolved to become an essential part of the Gazan economy. However, as a result of repeated closures of the Gaza Strip, the number of Gazan workers in Israel has gradually decreased to approximately 25,000 workers as of July 30, 1997, contributing to an unemployment rate of 57 percent in the Gaza Strip. The new closure measures have caused the unemployment rate to jump 68 percent, as a result of denying workers access to Israel, the ban on exports of agricultural and industrial products, the closure of the Sea, and the economic stagnation in the Gaza Strip.
The Deterioration of Health Conditions in the Gaza Strip
As a result of the new closure measures, many Gazan patients have been denied access to medical treatment in Israel and the West Bank. Only forty patients classified as critical cases were allowed to cross through Israeli Territory to Israeli or West Bank hospitals between July 31 and August 5. Before July 30, between 25 and 30 patients had been allowed to pass daily. Palestinian Ministry of Health sources reported that more than 100 cases are being denied access to hospitals in the West Bank and Israel because they are not classified by the Israelis as critical.
In addition, Gazan patients are denied the right to medical treatments in other neighboring countries as a result of the sealed borders. The Palestinian Ministry of Health usually transports 25 Gazan patients to Egypt daily, while another 40 patients travel weekly to Egypt of their own accord. Around 25 additional cases usually go to Jordanian hospitals through Israeli Territory, but are now denied access. Because of the sealing off of the border, none of those who have recently received treatment in foreign countries are allowed to return to Gaza. According to information from the Ministry of Health, there are nine such patients who have received treatment in Egypt and are unable to return home to Gaza because of the closed border.
Two cases serve as examples of the problems caused by the Israeli closure. Five year old Mona Adel Balusha has been treated at Al-Nasser hospital in Gaza after suffering a brain hemorrhage and required urgent medical treatment. Another patient, Alia Rizq Jarada, born 1 January 1949, has been treated for a heart attack at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. Her condition is unstable and requires emergency heart surgery. The two patients were ordered transferred to Egypt for medical treatment by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israeli authorities, on August 3, refused Palestinian demands that the two patients be transferred by ambulance to Egypt. The Israelis informed their Palestinian counterparts that because of the new closure measures, such critical cases could only be treated in Israel. Immediately, the Palestinian side made arrangements for the transfer of the patients to Israel. The Palestinian officials received no answer regarding the exit permits until Tuesday, August 5, when around 9:30pm they were informed by the Israelis that they would not allow the two patients into Israel, but would now allow them to travel to Egypt through Rafah border crossing. Wednesday morning, the two patients were transported by Palestinian ambulance to Egypt, with a less hopeful prognosis than if they had received immediate treatment.
The imposition of the comprehensive closure on the Palestinian Territories severely escalates the deteriorating situation in the region. The closure of the Occupied Territories is a collective punishment against the Palestinian people, prohibited by international agreements and covenants, including the 4th Geneva Convention of 1929.
The PCHR reiterates both its position against the imposition of collective punishment by the government of Israel against the Palestinian people, and its belief that the security justification for the closure claimed by the government of Israel has no basis in fact. The Centre also takes the position that this kind of collective punishment never has and never will contribute to the security of the state of Israel for the following reasons:
First, that suicide bombing operations against Israelis have been carried out in spite of the closures imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip by Israel. It is evident that the perpetrators of the recent bombing did not have permits to travel to Israel, but managed to find a way in regardless.
Second, that hundreds of Palestinian citizens are being arrested by Israeli forces on a monthly basis for their infiltration into Israeli territory without permits for the sake of work. If these ordinary citizens are able to penetrate Israeli checkpoints and borders to reach their places of employment, it is naive to believe that an individual who has decided to carry out a suicide bombing operation would be deterred by the checkpoints and restrictions placed on the freedom of movement.
Once again, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights believes the government of Israel should reconsider its policy of closure, and tackle the real causes behind the deterioration of the security situation in the area. Such causes include the Israeli policy of settlement building and expansion in the Occupied Territories, which was a leading factor in the deadlock in negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights calls upon the international community to denounce the Israeli closure policy and collective punishment of the Palestinian people. Basic human rights, such as the right to medical treatment, freedom of movement, freedom to associate with one’s family and freedom to seek productive employment must be accorded to the civilian population. We urge the human rights community to take immediate action by contacting the following officials to demand the lifting of the closure measures:
Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Housing
Office of the Prime Minister
3 Kaplan Street
Jerusalem 91919
State of Israel
Telegrams: Prime Minister Netanyahu, Jerusalem, Israel
Telexes: 25279 mpres il
Faxes: +972 2 566-4838
Mr. Avigdor Kahalani
Minister of Internal Security
Ministry of Internal Security
PO Box 18182
3 Sheikh Jarrah
Kiryat Hamemshala
Jerusalem 91181
State of Israel
Telegrams: Internal Security Minister, Jerusalem, Israel
Fax: +972 2 582-6769
General Yitzhak Mordechai
Minister of Defence
Ministry of Defence
7 A Street, Hakirya, Tel Aviv
State of Israel
Telegrams: Defence Minister, Tel Aviv, Israel
Faxes: +972 3 697-6218
and diplomatic representatives of Israel accredited to your country.
Trial Version
