Securing Peace in Palestine
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PALESTINE: Understanding our history to make a better future

Plight of the Palestinians

Following partition and the creation of the state of Israel, in the 1947-49 war, two thirds of the entire Palestinian population were expelled from their home. The war of 1967 resulted in a second wave of a million Palestinian refugees, when Israel occupied the remainder of Palestine ‘The Occupied territories’.

In Palestine today there are approximately ten million Palestinians, two thirds of whom are refugees. Some of these refugees live in camps in the West Bank and Gaza, others in camps and some are classed as ‘stateless’ in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Gulf States. A minority have managed to acquire citizenship in Arab countries mainly (Jordan) or elsewhere.

Life under occupation

Today, Palestinians in the occupied territories, whether or not they are refuges, live in inhuman conditions. Organisations, such as Amnesty International (www.amsnesty.org) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (www.icrc.org), record the daily catalogue of violence, humiliation and abuses of human rights by Israeli authorities.

The Israeli organisation B’Tselem also documents human rights violations in the occupied territories, which include complete closure of towns and villages and continuing construction of the Apartheid wall. This makes normal daily life virtually impossible as basic supplies have to be carried by hand as the Israeli army denies access for vehicles. Women have been obliged to give birth at road blocks and, as a result, half the babies and some of the mothers have died in addition to many other patients who have died as a result of an inability to be properly treated.

Palestinian lawyers cannot reach detainees and, therefore, legal representation is not possible. The environment is polluted daily by Israel’s use of the occupied territories as their dumping ground for sewage and nuclear, industrial and domestic waste, further exacerbating the squalid conditions these people live under.

Under the protection of the Israeli army illegal Jewish settlements continue to be established and expanded on Palestinian land on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, demolishing Palestinian homes, expropriating agricultural land.

Collective punishments are routinely imposed by Israel, all in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention. These punishments included:

  • school closures;
  • 24 – hour curfews;
  • cutting off water supplies;
  • demolishing wells;
  • emptying water taking supplies to remote villages.

More violent measures include:

  • targeted assassinations;
  • destruction of power stations;
  • bombing of public buildings or homes, which are then bulldozed.
  • holding people for hours at checkpoints, strip searched, confiscating goods, identity cards or car keys and invading homes.

Palestinians have repeatedly asked for an international force to monitor these violations of human rights and provide some degree of restraint and protection. The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to encourage the creation of such a force, but Israel has refused to accept one.

Recent elections

General elections were held in the occupied territories in January 2006. Deemed a fair process by the international observers - despite difficulties in registering, campaigning and voting under military occupation, The Islamist party Hamas won – a resounding victory – a surprise to many, given Palestine’s tradition of secular nationalism. This has been explained as both a reaction against corruption in leadership of Fatah, the party founded by Yasser Arafat, and the rejection of the empty ‘peace processes’ that had produced endless concessions and compromises on the Palestinian side but only harsher occupation by Israel.

The US and Israel immediately imposed stringent sanctions on the occupied territories, declaring Hamas to be a terrorist organisation, and were joined in this by many European countries. The condition imposed on the Hamas government was that they should recognise Israel, cease all violence and abide all agreements previously entered into with Israel. No such demands were made of the Israeli government, who continued their blockades and violent incursions in violation of international law.

Millions of dollars of taxes which should have been remitted by Israel to the Palestine government were also withheld and Western aid was cut off. The inhabitants of Gaza already living in poverty as such now find themselves in a particularly desperate situation

Current situation

A fragile six-month truce between Hamas and Israel expired on December 19, 2008; attempts at extending the truce failed amid accusations of breaches from both sides. Following the expiration, Hamas resumed rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli cities, most notably firing over 60 rockets on December 24. On December 27, 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead - a massive aerial assault and subsequent land invasion - against Hamas, beginning a major battle in Gaza. The Israeli Operation began with an intense bombardment of the Gaza strip, targeting Hamas bases, police training camps, police headquarters and offices. Civilian infrastructure, including mosques, houses and schools were also attacked with allegations being made by Israel that Hamas fighters were operating out of them. Throughout the conflict, Hamas and other organizations fired hundreds of rockets and mortar shells on Israeli cities. Human Rights groups and aid organisations have accused Hamas and Israel of "War Crimes" and called for independent investigations and law suits. The conflict came to an end on January 18 after first Israel and then Hamas announced unilateral ceasefires. In the days following the ceasefire, it was reported that, more than 40,000 Gazan’s were left without running water and 4,000 homes had been ruined, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.

Cost of conflict

A report by Strategic Foresight Group has estimated the opportunity cost of conflict for the Middle East from 1991-2010 at $12 trillion. The report's opportunity cost calculates the peace GDP of countries in the Middle East by comparing the current GDP to the potential GDP in times of peace. Israel's share is almost $1 trillion. In other words, had there been peace and cooperation between Israel and Arab nations since 1991, every Israeli citizen would be earning over $44,000 instead of $23,000 in 2010.

In terms of the human cost, estimates range from 51,000 fatalities (from 1950 to 2007 to 92,000 fatalities (from 1945 to 1995).