Ref: 63/2006

Date:  20 December 2006    

PCHR Publishes a New Report Titled “Agreement on Border Crossings: Another Year of Suffering”

PCHR has published a special report titled “Agreement on Border Crossings: Another Year of Suffering,” surveying the impacts of the restrictions imposed on the freedom of movement on living conditions of the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip following one year of the implementation of the Agreement on Border Crossings. The report also focuses on the economic and social conditions of the Palestinian civilian population following the implementation of the Agreement.

The report evaluates conditions at border crossings of the Gaza Strip, Gaza International Airport and Gaza Harbor, refuting alleged facilitation of the freedom of movement between Gaza and the West Bank. It surveys the impacts of the Agreement on Border Crossing on the economic and social rights of the Palestinian civilians population, particularly the rights of health, food, appropriate living conditions and development.

The report concludes that Israeli occupation authorities have seized the agreement as a means of collective punishment against the Palestinian civilian population. They have also made use of it to escalate their violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including the rights of the freedom of movement and secure flow of goods, especially medical and food supplies and basic daily needs. 

Furthermore, the report points out that the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population has dramatically increased as an outcome of the policies practiced by Israeli occupation forces, particularly the economic and social stranglehold of the Palestinian civilians population, including imposing restrictions on the flow of goods, such as medical and food supplies.

According to the report, since the implementation of the Agreement on Border Crossings, unemployment in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) has mounted to at least 40% (44% in the Gaza Strip alone), and poverty levels have mounted to 64% in the OPT (73% in the Gaza Strip). According to various estimations, at least one million Palestinians in the OPT live below the poverty line. The individual income decreased in the first three years of the current Palestinian Intifada by 32%, and this decrease has recently reached 40%. Additionally, the Palestinian domestic product has sharply dropped threatening all economic sectors.

The report points out that instead of ensuring the freedom of movement of persons and goods and promoting economic development, as prescribed in the preamble of the Agreement on Border Crossings, since 25 November 2005, when the Agreement entered into force, there have been disastrous impacts on the economic conditions of the Palestinian civilian population.

The report also includes statistics and diagrams on the closure of border crossings of the Gaza Strip and its impacts on the economic and social conditions of the Palestinian civilian population.

Note: The report is available in Arabic only, and it will be available in English soon.

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