Occupied Palestinian Territories
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Co-funded by the Internal Security Fund of the European Union LET4CAP Law Enforcement Training for Capacity Building OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES Downloadable Country Booklet DL. 2.5 (Version 1.1) 1 Dissemination level: PU Let4Cap Grant Contract no.: HOME/ 2015/ISFP/AG/LETX/8753 Start date: 01/11/2016 Duration: 33 months Dissemination Level PU: Public X PP: Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission) RE: Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission) Revision history Rev. Date Author Notes 1.0 18/05/2018 Ce.S.I. Overall structure and first draft 1.1 30/11/2018 Ce.S.I. Final version LET4CAP_WorkpackageNumber 2 Deliverable_2.5 VER WorkpackageNumber 2 Deliverable Deliverable 2.5 Downloadable country booklets VER 1.1 2 OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES Country Information Package 3 This Country Information Package has been prepared by Lorenzo Marinone Ce.S.I. – Centre for International Studies Within the framework of LET4CAP and with the financial support to the Internal Security Fund of the EU LET4CAP aims to contribute to more consistent and efficient assistance in law enforcement capacity building to third countries. The Project consists in the design and provision of training interventions drawn on the experience of the partners and fine-tuned after a piloting and consolidation phase. © 2018 by LET4CAP…. All rights reserved. 4 Table of contents 1. Country Profile 1.1 Country in Brief 1.2 Modern and Contemporary History of Occupied Palestinian Territories 1.3 Geography 1.4 Territorial and Administrative Units 1.5 Population 1.6 Ethnic Groups, Languages, Religion 1.7 Health 1.8 Education and Literacy 1.9 Country Economy 2. Political and Security Context 2.1 The Constitution of Occupied Palestinian Territories 2.2 Elections 2.3 Political Parties 2.4 Key Political Leaders 2.5 Media Landscape and Civil Society 2.6 Security Sector 3. Law Enforcement Structures and Actors 3.1 The Police 3.2 Other Security Forces 3.3 The Judiciary 4. Migrations and Human Rights issues 4.1 Internal and International Migration 4.2 Human Rights Situation 5. The UN and Occupied Palestinian Territories 5.1 The UN and the 2014 Gaza war 5.2 The UN and the issue of Israeli settlements 6. The EU – Occupied Palestinian Territories Relations 6.1 A strong partnership 6.2 Bilateral cooperation and financial support 6.3 EU Co-ordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support (EUPOL COPPS) 6.4 EU Border Assistance Mission at the Rafah Crossing Point - EU BAM Rafah 7. Other regional organisations and Occupied Palestinian Territories 7.1 Organization of the Islamic Cooperation and Occupied Palestinian Territories 7.2 Arab League and Occupied Palestinian Territories 8. Other Practical Info 8.1 Local Customs Cultural Awareness 8.2 Medical Travel Recommendations for Occupied Palestinian Territories 8.3 Other Travel Info 8.4 Radio Transmissions 9. Useful contacts Sources Bibliography 5 1. Country Profile 6 1.1 Country in Brief Source: Wikipedia; By Wickey-nl - Own work; based on UN OCHA map; CC BY-SA 3.0 7 Formal Name: Occupied Palestinian Territories (used by UN, Area (sq km): 6,220 (of which West Bank 5,860 km2, Gaza disputed); State of Palestine (used by Palestinian National Strip 360 km2) Authority, disputed) Capital City: East Jerusalem (claimed), Ramallah (de facto Previous formal names: Mandatory Palestine, Eyalet of administrative capital) Damascus (part of the Ottoman Empire) Independence: 14 May 1948 (end of British Mandate; de facto Population: 4,543,126 (July 2017 estimates) partly occupied by Israel); 15 November 1988 (as State of Term for Citizens: none; Palestinians (informal) Palestine, recognized by 136 out of 193 member states of the United Nations as of 2015). 8 1.2 Modern and Contemporary History of Occupied Palestinian Territories Early History Ridwans in Gaza, the Turabays in al-Lajjun and the Farrukhs in The term Occupied Palestinian Territories refers to modern day Nablus, who governed Palestine on behalf of the Porte during West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which are located in what is 16th and 17th centuries, with large autonomy and often in direct widely referred to as historical Palestine. Given its geographical competition with the Ottoman-appointed governor of Damascus, position, at the intersection of three continents (Africa, Asia, under whose eyalet (a mid-level administrative division) they Europe) and near fertile areas such as the Nile basin and the were formally placed. Indirect rule over Palestine continued also Mesopotamian plain, since ancient times this region has been at in the 18th century. In fact, the political life of the region was the centre of the development of the first urban civilizations in dominated by several local figures like Zahir al-Umar of the human history. The city of Jericho, located not far from the Zaydani clan, who managed to turn the port of Acre into a major Dead Sea and River Jordan, is believed to be one of the oldest regional power thanks to the establishment of a monopoly over inhabited cities in the world, with archaeological evidences that cotton and olive oil production and trade to Europe; and its show traces of habitations dating back to 9000 BC. For the very successor Ahmad al-Jazzar, who further loosened ties with same reasons, historical Palestine has been for thousand years a Damascus and defended Acre against Napoleon I in 1799. land of immigrations, invasions and clash of empires, and the Napoleon’s unsuccessful attempt to expand the French Empire crossroad for culture, religions and commerce. Between the in Egypt and the Levant was soon followed by years of Bronze Age (3300 BC) and the Arab conquest (7th century CE), expansionist policy at the expense of Constantinople carried historical Palestine was controlled by numerous peoples forward by the new ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, who including Ancient Egyptians, confederations of Semitic- militarily occupied Palestine in 1831. In 1840 the Ottoman speaking tribes such as the Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Empire regained the control of the region with the aid of British, Persians, Greeks and Romans. In the first half of the 7th century Russians and Austrians and expanded its push for administrative CE, the Arab armies under the command of the First Caliph reforms to the region. Abu Bakr successfully waged war against the Byzantine Empire and occupied the area, before extending their rule as far as Jewish migration in Historical Palestine Morocco and Spain in the West and the Indus valley in the East. In the second half of the 19th century, Palestine witnessed not With the Arab takeover of historical Palestine, the region only an increased interest by European powers but also a underwent a process of Islamization while still retaining its mounting presence of immigrants and foreign settlements and fundamental importance as the cradle of other monotheistic colonies. In particular, the arrival of several dozen of thousands religions, Judaism and Christianity. Thus, under the Muslim of Jewish immigrants from Russia during the last decades of the dynasty of Umayyads, in the Temple Mount area of Jerusalem century had by far the most important repercussions on the were erected the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. region. While small in absolute numbers (Jewish migrants in From the Arab conquest up to 1500, the historical Palestine was Palestine are estimated in just 70,000 between 1881 and 1914), shaken by frequent conflicts and not only became the theatre of their presence was coupled with the development of the Zionist rivalries between the competing dynasties for the rule of the movement led by Theodor Herzl, who advocated an Caliphate (Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, Mamluks), but also autonomous Jewish state in Palestine and struggled to get experienced the hostilities between Arabs and the Crusaders, support from Western powers. Ultimately, building on the Christian warriors from Europe that tried to conquer the Holy development and the ramification of the movement, Herzl’s Land in several waves from 1096 to 1291. efforts laid the foundations for what would become the embryonic bureaucratic and administrative structures of the The Ottoman Era future state of Israel. Jewish immigration (mainly from Europe) By the end of the 15th century, the rise of the Ottoman empire continued throughout all the first half of the 20th century with and its expansion beyond its area of origin in the Anatolian several waves (“aliyah”) and the establishment of a number peninsula was menacing the rule of Mamluks over historical of agricultural settlements on plots of land purchased by the Palestine. After several decades of hostilities for the possession Jewish National Fund, a branch of the Zionist organisation. of some border towns, the balance eventually turned in favour of the Turks on August 24, 1516, when the Mamluk armies World War I and the British mandate were defeated by Ottoman Sultan Selim I at the battle of Marj During World War I, the British attacked Ottoman troops in Dabiq. Palestine and the entire Levant passed under the control Palestine. The war reached the southernmost part of the region of the Sublime Porte in what would become a 4 centuries long in 1917. By the end of that year British had secured Gaza and domination. Jerusalem and continued their campaign northward into the In general, in these first centuries of domination, the Ottoman Jordan valley, eventually capturing Haifa and Damascus in rule over Palestine was characterized by a wide degree of October 1918. Conflicting options regarding the future é autonomy conceded by political lites in Constantinople to local organisation of the region in anticipation of the defeat of the rulers, in exchange for compliance with certain obligations such Ottomans were outlined already during the war. In an exchange as payment of taxes and loyalty to central institutions.