Ref:
25/2014

On Thursday, 05 June 2014, the Economic and
Social Rights’ Unit of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) organized
a workshop on “the Future of Housing Polices in the Gaza Strip” which was held
at The Commodore Hotel in Gaza city. Many specialists took part in the workshop
including representatives of the Ministry of Public Work and Housing (MPWH),
the Palestinian Council for Housing, and the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights.

In his intervention titled as “the Reality of
Housing in the Gaza Strip”, Eng Nagy al-Sarhan, Director of the MPWH, talked
about the Gaza Strip’s needs of housing units, which are estimated at 14,000
units per year, and the shortage in the number of housing units estimated at
70,000 units. Moreover, he emphasized that the Israeli closure imposed on the
Gaza Strip since 2007, the ban imposed on the entry of construction materials,
and Israeli control over border areas, north and east of the Strip have led to
suspending all new construction projects. Consequently, the number of housing
units required to meet the needs of the naturally increasing population
has  decreased. He added that the
Palestinian Authority has started construction housing projects to meet the
needs of the Gaza population since its establishment, having already
constructed 2,500 housing units so far.

Dr Fadel al- Muzaini, a researcher at PCHR’s
Economic and social Rights’ Unit, discussed the impact of the Israeli closure
on housing and construction projects in the Gaza Strip. Al-Muzaini said that
the shortage in the number of housing units and the decline in construction
projects refute Israeli claims of easing the closure on the Gaza Strip. He
emphasized that the Israeli closure imposed on the Gaza Strip for the past 7
years is behind the disastrous results on the right to adequate shelter  for 
Gaza residents creating the housing crisis in the Strip that has
affected thousands of families that need new homes in accordance with the
natural population growth during the years of the closure. He added that such a
policy deprived owners of destroyed houses to rebuild or repair them for
several years because of the almost total ban imposed on the entry of
construction materials into the Gaza Strip. Moreover, al- Muzaini pointed out
that the entry of construction materials from Egypt through the tunnels 3 years
ago contributed to partially overcoming the problem of the closure and to build
and repair hundreds of damaged homes. Al- Muzaini stated that the ban on the
entry of construction materials into the Gaza Strip since June 2013 brought the
crisis back and  led to suspending work
at construction infrastructure  projects.

In his paper entitled ‘ Palestinian
Development Plan from the Prospective of the Right to Adequate Housing ‘, Saber
Alnairab, a representative of Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
noted that Palestinian policies generally were not development policies, but
policies of emergency. He added that since the political split over the past
seven years, plans for the construction of projects and investment methods in
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have differed. Alnairab said that the joining
of several international conventions in the field of human rights including the
International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights, which has a special
paragraph on the right to adequate shelter, obligates Palestine to work
seriously to apply the right of adequate housing.

Khalil Shaheen, a researcher at PCHR’s
Economic and Social Rights’ Unit, presented a paper entitled ‘ government
Policies Regarding Housing Issues: a critical review from an economic and
social rights’ prospective’. Shaheen stressed the importance of adopting the
polices and plans needed to establish the right to adequate housing and to meet
the needs of thousands of residents who lost their homes due to continuing
assaults and direct targeting by Israeli forces. He also demanded reevaluating
the commitments of the Palestinian authorities in this area, protecting the
residents from compulsory eviction, and providing suitable alternatives that
preserve their dignity. Moreover, he called for making the information of the
policies of allocating government land available and reevaluating those
policies for better investment of government lands.

Osama al-Sa’dawi, the director of the
Palestinian Council for Housing, presented a paper entitled ‘ the Perception of
Non-governmental Sector towards Housing Policies in the Gaza Strip ‘ and
pointed out that the chances of low-income and middle-income residents of
having adequate housing are decreasing due to the fallback of housing projects.
Al-Sa’dawi called upon adopting housing policies that correspond with the new
reality and provides adequate housing that goes with the cultural privacy of
the residents, provides basic services, and corresponds with their income. He
also demanded the Palestinian Government to examine other countries’ housing
experiences and choose the best. Moreover, he called upon motivating the
private sector to support housing projects and stressed the importance of
partnership between the government and the non-governmental and private sectors
in the housing area. He also stressed the importance of involving experts and
researchers before and after establishing housing polices.

At the end of the workshop, participants took
part in a final discussion and presented their views and questions. They
recommended the following:

· Calling upon the
new government to pay special attention to the right to adequate housing, in
accordance with international human rights standards, placing it on its top
priorities and creating housing opportunities for all;

· Merging the Gaza
Strip in the Palestinian development plan, including housing sector, and
providing legal protection to the right of adequate housing;

· Reevaluating
previous housing policies, including the policy of allocating government lands,
in accordance with the standards of the right to adequate housing and
Palestinian development needs;

· Calling upon the
United Nations, its relevant agencies, and the Special Rapporteur on adequate
housing to force the Israeli authorities to commit to the principals of basic
human rights especially the right to adequate housing;

· Stressing that
Israeli closure is a violation of international law and does not correspond
with Israel’s legal commitments as a military occupation, and;

· Calling upon the
international community to stop the closure policy, open all commercial
crossings, and allow the entry of construction materials to commence the
process of rebuilding the Gaza Strip; Israel must not be treated as a state
above the law.