EXPERT PANEL AT KYIV MEETING EXAMINES SITUATION IN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY

EXPERT PANEL AT KYIV MEETING EXAMINES SITUATION

IN OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

KYIV, 13 MAY -- The logic of “might makes right” could not make a just and lasting peace, Palestinian Authority Minister for Tourism Mitri Abu Aita told the second session of the United Nations International Meeting in Support of Middle East Peace this afternoon in Kyiv. 

If peace was to be comprehensive and sustainable, he added, it must rise up to the Palestinian’s legitimate right to self-determination, national independence and equitable distribution of resources.

Member of the Israeli Knesset, Issam Makhoul, said the Israeli Government was trying to divert Israeli public opinion from the heavy social price of its policies but it could not starve Palestinians without starving significant portions of the Israeli population.  He emphasized that without the firm support of the American administration, Sharon would not be able to continue the war and further his plans of annexation and abolition of the rights of the Palestinian people.

Foundation for Middle East Peace Editor Geoffrey Aronson said that while the population in settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip had continued to increase, the rate of that increase had been cut in half.  The Israeli economic recession had put a chill on the Israeli housing market and the settlements were not isolated from that market.  Security concerns raised by the intifada also influenced the calculations of potential settlers.

The continued disrespect for international humanitarian law was the single largest cause of the growing humanitarian emergency United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Jerusalem, Grigor Hovhannisyan said.  The crisis was man-made and a direct consequence of movement restrictions imposed on the civilian populations.

Panelists also reviewed the cost of the violence, the expansion of the Israeli settlements and the unilateral separation created by Israel’s construction of the Separation Wall, the building of bypass roads and the impact of movement restrictions, closures and curfews.

The two-day meeting in Kyiv, sponsored by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, heard presentations in a panel on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem.

The representative of Japan made a statement.

Participants will meet again tomorrow morning to hear a panel presentation on “Prospects for resuming the political process”.  Discussion points include unblocking the political stalemate; addressing the security agenda -- modalities for ending the violence; addressing the economic agenda -- the urgency of improving Palestinian living conditions; and progress in the reform agenda -- critical steps by the Palestinian leadership.

Statement

The representative of Japan said there was no other way but to support the “Road Map”.  Japan was firmly committed to a comprehensive peace.  The international community must pledge to further assistance.  Japan called on both parties to work for peace.  It had extended a new package of assistance to the Palestinians which included food, medicines and other basic human needs.  It also included support for reform efforts, assistance in building a new Prime Minister’s office, improving the administrative capability and help in constructing a court house and a judiciary agency office in Gaza.  Further, Japan would extend assistance to the humanitarian activities of Israeli and Palestinian non-governmental organizations.  Japan would also assist the joint efforts of Israeli and Palestinian groups tackling the environmental situation in the area.  The international community must encourage the Palestinian Authority, the Government of Israel, Lebanon and Syria to make efforts for a lasting peace in the area.

Panel I:  The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem;

The human cost of violence; expansion of settlements and unilateral separation; impact of the conflict on the Palestinian Authority; destruction of the Palestinian economy; and the deepening of the humanitarian crisis.

MITRI ABU AITA, Minister of Tourism, Palestinian Authority, said the twentieth century had witnessed dramatic geographical changes in the Middle East, where state boundaries which were carved essentially by superpowers, were a major source of conflict.  Geographical Palestine, due to its strategic location at the crossroads of Africa, Asia and Europe and to its religious significance as the birthplace of the three monotheistic religions, had witnessed a parade of conquerors throughout its long history. Reviewing the history of the region, he said Palestinians had rejected the 1948 United Nations partition plan which had given Israel, with seven per cent of the people, 54 per cent of the land.  Palestine, with 93 per cent of the population, was given 46 per cent of the land.

Using a projector to illustrate his points, he showed images of 24 new Israeli colonies and 113 outposts.  Other maps showed the Israeli Master Plan for colonies in the West Bank, the Israelization of Jerusalem with an extension of the borders of East Jerusalem from 6.5 square kilometers to 71 square kilometers and the Israeli plan of Metropolitan Jerusalem. Detailing the many financial incentives given to each settler, he said they included tax exemptions, housing budgets and development of water resources.  Israel afforded this through a $10 billion dollar loan from the United States, $4 billion of which was to become a grant.  In 1991, the United States had granted another $10 billion to the Israeli Government as an inducement to attend the Madrid conference. 

He spelled out the development of the peace process since 1991 noting that there had been considerable political amnesia about the terms of the various agreements. Israel continued its policies of cantonization, segregation and separation.  There were 734 kilometers of roads within the West Bank on which Palestinians were not permitted to travel.  The West Bank was divided into 64 cantons and there were 125 checkpoints within the West Bank. Through the Separation Wall, Israel was annexing, confiscating and leveling thousands of dunums of Palestinian lands.   It was part of a long-term policy of unilateral segregation.  The logic of “might makes right” could not make a just and lasting peace.  If peace was to be comprehensive and sustainable, it must rise up to the Palestinians legitimate right to self-determination, national independence and equitable distribution of resources.

ISSAM MAKHOUL, Member of the Knesset, said that Sharon and Bush have the map but the peace forces have the road.  Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was conducting a strong-arm and violent policy towards the Palestinian people and their leadership. He was convinced that Israel had the right to rule the 3.5 million Palestinians in the Territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and that it was possible to abolish national rights by means of military supremacy.  He continued planning to achieve his political goals by waging a ruthless war.  To remove the establishment of a Palestinian state from the agenda, Sharon had instructed the Israeli army to destroy all instruments of government and all civilian institutions in the Occupied Territory. 

He said that Israel strove to acquire the status of the victim, denying the Palestinians even their right to be Israel’s victims.  It demanded that the issue on the table was not occupation but violence.  The American-Israeli agenda could not let “small” issues like Israeli colonialism, aggression, war crimes, liquidation of Palestinian activists and the daily killing of Palestinian children to be voiced or presented. Their main agenda was to guarantee the security of occupation and of settlements, and not guaranteeing the security of the Israeli and Palestinian people alike.

The imperative of the non-violent International Solidarity Movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was to not let war and bloodshed silence the voices of American activists like Rachel Corrie who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer as it proceeded to demolish a Palestinian house. The Israeli Government tried to divert Israeli public opinion from the heavy social price of its policies but it could not starve Palestinians without starving significant portions of the Israeli population.  He emphasized that without the firm support of the American administration, Sharon would not be able to continue the war and further his plans of annexation and abolition of the rights of the Palestinian people.

GEOFFREY ARONSON, Editor, Foundation for Middle East Peace, Washington D.C. said the settlements to be evacuated according to the Road Map were those that had been established after the election of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.  Those settlements numbered about 70.  Most were small but two or three had upwards of 50 or 60 people.  The population of the settlement areas in Gaza was estimated at about 7000, but there was some suggestion that the populations had actually decreased, probably due to the intifada.  There were also the phenomena of new “illegal” outposts.  While they were small it should be noted that many of the current settlements had begun their existence in the same way. 

He said the rate of population increase in settler population had been three or four times the national Israeli average.  While the population in settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip had continued to increase, the rate of increase had been cut in half.  The Israeli economic recession had put a chill on the Israeli housing market.  The settlements were not isolated from that market.  The security concerns raised by the intifada were part of the calculations that potential settlers took into consideration. 

Continuing, he said the policy of closure was a direct consequence of the policy to protect Israeli settlers.  That was, however, a dynamic process and Israel expanded in other ways such as the Separation Wall and bypass roads which were meant to integrate the settlements with each other and with Israel proper.  The new outposts served to satisfy the politically strong settlement forces.  The Road Map addressed the issue by demanding that the settlements established after Sharon’s election be evacuated but complete evacuation of settlement expansion was something that would be much harder to implement than declare. The last element of the Road Map with immediate reference to territory, called on Israel to stop the confiscation of land which could be interpreted as a demand to stop confiscating private lands for the construction of the Separation Wall.

GRIGOR HOVHANNISYAN, Deputy Head, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that for the past two years humanitarian concerns were seen as secondary to the Israel-Palestinian conflict and defined as a political crisis with humanitarian consequences.  The aid and

donor communities assumed that once relieved of external shocks and pressures, the Palestinian economy would produce a quick fix to its own social and humanitarian problems. The aid communities' response consisted of budget support to the Palestinian Authority, continued technical assistance and medium scale commodity support.  By mid-summer 2002, the international community became aware of the grave humanitarian situation in West Bank and Gaza.  It had gradually deteriorated to the current level because of violations of international humanitarian law.  The crisis was man-made and a direct consequence of movement restrictions imposed on the civilian populations. The continued disrespect for international humanitarian law was the single largest cause of the growing humanitarian emergency. 

He said the fundamental challenge facing the aid community was the limited impact they could have in the absence of political decisions to lift closures, curfews and other restrictions.  Without political decisions to address the cause of the crisis, the humanitarian crisis would continue to worsen. The dilemma was whether to finance the occupation and relieve Israel of its obligations to cater to the needs of civilians or discontinue its relief efforts.  The military occupation of Palestinian self-rule areas continued and movement in and out of the Palestinian population centre was highly restricted.  The number of Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilian had decreased while Palestinian casualties had increased.  The water and hygiene situation throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory continued to degenerate. Meanwhile accelerated impoverishment was reflected in a significant drop in the real per capita food consumption of Palestinians, estimated now at 70 per cent of pre- September 2000 levels.

Contrary to pledges by the Government of Israel to the Secretary-General’s Humanitarian Envoy, Catherine Bertini, there was little tangible improved access for relief staff, he said.  They continued to be shot, killed and denied access to Palestinians needing assistance. Nevertheless, the risk of a massive degeneration of the humanitarian situation was limited, thanks to the supply of goods to the local market, occasional employment opportunities, limited but stable salary payment and local charity networks.  The successful implementation of the Road Map might bring substantial improvements to the security environment and lifted internal closures might facilitate service provision in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  In the absence of a broader political settlement, however, the overall socio-economic situation would hardly improve in the short term, thus requiring continued humanitarian assistance.  

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