150 route de Ferney, P.O. Box 2100 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland Tel: 41 22 791 6033 Fax: 41 22 791 6506 Appeal e-mail: [email protected] Coordinating Office Palestinian Territories Assistance to Civilian Victims of Conflict - MEPL-22 Appeal Target: US$ 2,311,942 Geneva, 3 October 2002 Dear Colleagues, The situation in the Palestinian Territories is grave with no sign of any immediate solution to a number of deep and long-standing problems. Recent surveys on the nutritional situation have confirmed a sharp increase of malnutrition especially among small children. Unemployment has left 20% of Palestinian families with no income, while almost a half of the population survives on $2/day income. Following a successful completion of ACT appeals MEPL-12 and MEPL-21, ACT members in the OPT – MECC/DSPR, IOCC and LWF have brought a joint decision to tackle two key-problems of the Palestinian population - malnutrition and unemployment. Representing the global ecumenical family, ACT members will thus continue to play a vital role in reaching out to the marginalized and the most vulnerable, bringing hope to a number of Palestinian families. Having recognised that the co-operation with other actors involved is one of the important opportunities, ACT members will continue to deliver aid through the Coalition of Christian NGOs, AIDA and other international relief bodies. Through ACT appeal MEPL-22, ACT members the Middle East Council of Churches-Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees (MECC-DSPR), Lutheran World Federation/World Service- Jerusalem (LWF/WS Jerusalem) and the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) seek financial support for the following activities: emergency food and non-food distributions emergency services of Augusta Victoria Hospital and mobile Village Health Clinics job creation ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies meeting human need through coordinated emergency response. The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland. Palestinian Territories – Assistance to Civilian Victims 2 MEPL-22 Appeal. Project Completion Date: DSPR - 31 March 2003 LWF - 30 September 2003 IOCC - 30 April 2003 Summary of Appeal Targets, Pledges/Contributions Received and Balance Requested MECC/ LWF IOCC ACT Co- External Total US$ DSPR ordination Evaluation /Travel Total Appeal Targets 684,717 1,160,945 400,280 6,000 60,000 2,311,942 Less: Pledges/Contr Recd 0000 00 Balance Requested from 684,717 1,160,945 400,280 6,000 60,000 2,311,942 ACT Network Please kindly send your contributions to the following ACT bank account: Account Number – 240-432629.60A (USD) Account Name: ACT - Action by Churches Together UBS SA PO Box 2600 1211 Geneva 2 SWITZERLAND Please also inform the Finance Officer Jessie Kgoroeadira (direct tel. +4122/791.60.38, e-mail address [email protected]) of all pledges/contributions and transfers, including funds sent direct to the implementers, now that the Pledge Form is no longer attached to the Appeal. We would appreciate being informed of any intent to submit applications for EU, USAID and/or other back donor funding and the subsequent results. We thank you in advance for your kind cooperation. For further information please contact: ACT Director, Thor-Arne Prois (phone +41 22 791 6033 or mobile phone + 41 79 203 6055) or ACT Appeals Officer, Leila Dzaferovic (phone +41 22 791 6710 or mobile phone +41 79 757 92 06) ACT Web Site address: http://www.act-intl.org Ms. Geneviève Jacques John Nduna Robert Granke Director Acting Director, ACT Director WCC/Cluster on Relations LWF/World Service Palestinian Territories – Assistance to Civilian Victims 3 MEPL-22 Appeal. DESCRIPTION of the EMERGENCY SITUATION The ‘Al-Aqsa Intifada’ is drawing towards the end of its second year. Bloodshed, violence and excessive use of military force have had their toll on the general situation of the people living in the Palestinian Territories. Internal closure, curfews and roadblocks have practically separated the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, as well as cities, towns and refugee camps from each other. There are severe access and mobility restrictions on people and goods and this has had a rastic impact on the Palestinian economy and the living conditions of the people. If the situation is not alleviated, the state of the people will continue to deteriorate. Poverty and malnutrition are rampant. Infrastructure is disrupted. Health conditions are deteriorating as a result of breakdowns in providing services such as vaccinations. Harvest and fishery industries are disrupted, businesses have either collapsed or closed down. Risks remain high that conditions will further deteriorate with lack of access and curfews. Unemployment is multiplying and worries all those concerned, including Israelis, who believe in and work for peace. Families have no income and their purchasing power is decreasing to the point that many have sold their own household possessions. Families can hardly get adequate protein, and thus their health is affected. The unavailability of health facilities and health services has made their health conditions even worse with restricted movement, roadblocks and curfews. In areas such as Nablus, the situation is of utmost gravity as it has reached an unprecedented degree of deterioration. Water pipes, sewage, drainage systems and phone lines all lie in tangled piles amongst the dirt, mud and leaking water. Dead birds, spoilt meat and piles of garbage lie along the streets of Nablus. A foul smell rises from the chicken shops where chickens have perished for lack of food and care and frozen meat stores where meat has spoiled because electricity has often been cut off for many days at a time. Environmental hazards are of high risks if the present situation is not addressed. The Nablus Emergency Local Committee has sent out SOS appeals, since Nablus has been living under 83 days of blanket curfew. With the increase of Palestinian suicide bombings and the Israeli retaliation characterised by the re- occupation of most of the Territories (April 2002), normal life is almost completely paralysed, the economy totally devastated and the people impoverished. Closures and confrontation have resulted in a precipitous decline in trade, employment and investments, among many other things. Damage to the mentioned sectors and investment prospects is significant. The crisis has induced a severe fiscal compression according to World Bank Assessment on the "Intifada, Closures and the Palestinian Economic Crisis”. “Therefore removing or significantly easing closure is the pre-requisite if further decline is to be arrested and economic pressure removed from the Palestinian population. World Bank projections indicate that it would take at least two years to return to a pre-crisis level of economic activity if the situation were to end tomorrow.” A sustained tightening of closure will escalate Palestinian impoverishment and lead to economic implosion and disastrous hardships. "The situation is alarming," according to FAO senior nutritionist official. Meanwhile, violence continues and Palestinian civilians have to face mounting needs, unemployment, humiliation, economic strangulation and deprivation to the point of frustration. They are increasingly losing hope in all peace-initiatives as they see nothing but darkness and despair at the end of the tunnel. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has issued a Report on the situation in the Palestinian Occupied Territories in which it concludes that the recently intensified crisis with the tightened mobility restrictions since April 2002 have created a situation in the Palestinian Territories that resembles “complex humanitarian emergencies”. In such situations, vulnerability is great Palestinian Territories – Assistance to Civilian Victims 4 MEPL-22 Appeal. and the impact on productive capacity, institutional infrastructure and the economy as a whole is severe. The UNCTAD report also highlights the profound changes that have taken place in the functioning of the economy. These are unlikely to be easily reversed, even if stability is attained. In particular, the purchasing power of the Palestinian population has been depleted as households' coping strategies have been exhausted, making them dependent on emergency support in order to meet basic needs. The informal sector has expanded, as impoverished households resort to survival activities to eke out a living. Meanwhile, the institutionalisation of Israeli restrictions on mobility has worsened the humanitarian crisis and rendered attempts to address development needs particularly difficult, since the impact of the emergency situation is likely to continue even after stability has been attained. In particular, the Report calls for rehabilitation efforts that can reinforce the economy's capacity to withstand the crisis, especially through emergency job creation programmes. Impact On Human Lives As a result of the reoccupation of Palestinian Territories and the tightened and highly institutionalised mobility restrictions and curfews, close to half the population is now living below the $2-a-day poverty line. Unemployment has soared, according to the UNCTAD Report, from 10% of the labour force in September 2000 to 29% by the end of March 2002, and 34% by July 2002; leaving at least 200,000 Palestinians of working age without a job. This number climbs to as many as 600,000 during curfews. In more concrete numbers, unemployment affects adversely between one-third to almost the entire population when there are curfews. The coping mechanisms of Palestinian families have been depleted. Savings that usually keep the family going for one to two months; the selling of wife’s jewellery and other precious belongings; support received from other members of the family who are in a better economic situation; transfers from family members living abroad are all means to bolster the family economically in times of need and crisis. But these cannot be ever lasting and a majority of Palestinian families have come now to the end of their coping means and strategies, according to the UNCTAD Report.