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Home , Azzun, Hableh, Jinsafut, Kafr Laqif, Qalqilya

Issue No 4 15 – 31 October 2001 FOCUS: SAYAFA OVERVIEW The reporting period witnessed a grave escalation Military zone in the humanitarian situation in the Occupied , with scenes of conflict in Sayafa Palestinian cities unprecedented since the 1967 Settlements Arab-Israeli war, according to many local Beit Lahya observers.

Following the assassination of the Israeli Tourism Minister, Beit Hanun Israeli forces re-occupied the towns of , , , El Bireh, , Beit-Jala and between October 18 and 28. A stringent siege was imposed GAZA on the remaining towns of , , and , in addition to numerous villages in Zone A, which remained under full Palestinian security and civilian control. 70-m security zone

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) also launched a raid on the West Bank town of Beit Rima, resulting in casualties, and the policy of assassinations of activists wanted by Located between two Israeli settlements and surrounded by continued. There were also a number of shooting incidents by an Israeli military zone, Sayafa has two access points, a within Israel, resulting in a number of civilian coastal road and a secondary road linking it to the rest of the fatalities. In view of the serious humanitarian aftermath of . Since the beginning of the present Intifada the these events, especially the toll on innocent civilians and the coastal road has become off-limits to residents and the destruction to civic property, the current issue of the secondary road has been destroyed. Villagers have Humanitarian Update is mainly devoted to chronicling these improvised by building a bypass road through a permanent developments. Israeli military zone area to export their produce and reach their traditional markets. However, movement of persons hile most humanitarian concerns in the past and goods across the checkpoint is restricted to three weeks have focussed on the West Bank, crossing a day: from 06:30 to 8:30, from 12:00 to 3:30, and W the Gaza Strip has not escaped unscathed. from 16:00 to 17:00. The curfew is still maintained after Following a attack on the Eli-Sinai 17:00. At all times , vehicles are prevented from entering or settlement in northern Gaza in early October, leaving the area. which left two Israelis and the assailants dead, the IDF launched an indiscriminate retaliation campaign against civilians residing in the vicinity of the settlement and the 70-meter security zone. The agricultural economy of two nearby Palestinian villages - Beit Lahya and Beit Hanun, and the tiny community of Sayafa has been badly affected. Hundreds of dunums of cultivated land and groves were destroyed in all three locations, which along with the ensuing curfews have all but ruined the already devastated economy of these communities. IDF levelled groves in Beit-Lahya October 2001. Photo UNSCO INSIDE Overview……...………………………………………..……. 1 In contrast to other areas with similar security regimes, the Focus: Sayafa.…………..………………..…..……………...1 back-to-back technique of loading and unloading trucks is Reoccupation of the West Bank Cities….……………….2 unfeasible in Sayafa because of the narrowness of the Curfews…………………………………….………………….3 bypass road. Farmers, therefore, are forced to carry produce UNRWA COMGEN on Access…..……….…...…………....5 a considerable distance across checkpoints, a cumbersome Humanitarian Coordination…………..…….….…………..5

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practice which has become a routine for the area's residents. Even this practice was severely disrupted in early October following the Hamas attack on the Eli-Sinai settlement. The IDF imposed an 11-day total closure on Sayafa, destroy ing over 1000 dunums of plantations and groves. The curfew is 4 still maintained after 6 PM. No medical care is available locally. 7 REOCCUPATION OF WEST BANK CITIES Rehavam Ze’evi, the Israeli Minister for Tourism was assassinated in Jerusalem on 17 October by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of 1 . The following day, the Israeli Defence 1 Forces commenced reoccupation of major West Bank cities, accompanied by extensive use of heavy weaponry, including tanks, helicopters and Beit Rima artillery. The IDF met fierce resistance in a n umber 5 of areas, especially Bethlehem and Tulkarm, which in turn led to violent combats in densely 6 populated areas. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 88 Palestinians were killed in October – the highest monthly number in 2001, the majority non-combatants including a number of children. 19 According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) figures, a total of 227 Palestinians were injured during the reoccupation, two thirds of them civilians. This is an extremely high figure for such a brief period, compared with the number of casualties during previous months, and taking into consideration that most casualties occurred in a small number of locations. Since the beginning of the current Intifada, approximately 20% of Palestinian casualties have been injured by live ammunition. However, during the first two weeks Map indicates occupied and besieged Palestinian towns, of the current reoccupation, this figure reached and number of Palestinian fatalities in each of the 54% of the total number of casualties. A similar hostility affected areas. Courtesy of Solidaridad increase took place in the case of shrapnel injuries Internacinal. while the number of those injured by rubber- In Bethlehem, an UNRWA doctor and ambulance covered bullets and tear gas was insignificant in driver were injured on their way to Azzeh refugee the same period. camp to provide medical aid to wounded persons on 20 October. On the same day tanks shelled Numerous cases were also reported of Hospital killing Issa Fawzi Abu Ikhlayel ambulances and emergency medical teams (28) and wounding another person. In addition, prevented from crossing Israeli military the upper floor of the Health Work Committees checkpoints in the affected areas. On 18 October, (HWC) clinic in Beit Sahur was partially when a ten-year-old girl was killed and four other evacuated because of the risk posed by recurrent girls and three adults injured in Jenin, an shelling from the nearby Har Homa settlement. ambulance dispatched to assist the wounded was As both the Beit Jala and Bethlehem hospitals unable to reach the school for an hour. There were were difficult to reach during the attacks, the also cases of injuries to medical personnel. HWC clinic in Beit Sahur was one of the focal points for assistance during the period of reoccupation.

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The declared goal of this military campaign was to packages to some 150 households in Bethlehem/Beit Jala, capture those suspected of attacks against Israel, through the PRCS. and to prevent those planning acts of violence from leaving the cities. The IDF subsequently claimed that the reoccupation of Palestinian areas had prevented attacks planned inside Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants. The Israeli human rights organization "B'Tselem" states however, that "the timing of the operation, its character and its results, strongly suggest that this was an act of vengeance while applying pressure to the entire Palestinian population. Moreover, security justifications cannot excuse a wide-scale assault on hundreds of thousands of civilians. An indiscriminate assault on this scale constitutes collective punishment..."

To date, the IDF has withdrawn from Bethlehem and Qalqilya and t in the coming days is expected to withdraw from additional cities. According to the directive of the Defence Minister, the withdrawal from the Palestinian cities will be carried out in coordination with Palestinian security elements, which will take upon themselves responsibility to prevent terror attacks from the areas to be withdrawn from. FOCUS : B ETHLEHEM Some 19 Palestinians were killed in the Bethlehem area. Between 19 and 20 October alone, more than 35 Palestinians Scenes of devastation in Bethlehem; Photo courtesy UNRWA were wounded, some in critical condition. Bethlehem The extent of the damage in the other re- University, the Patriarchal Seminary, the Pontifical School for occupied towns is not known, pending an Israeli the Deaf and the Holy Family Hospital all suffered shell withdrawal. Approximately 60% of Tulkarm damage as did numerous houses in the town and nearby Beit remains occupied, with damage sustained to the Jala. Especially affected were the neighbouring refugee town and the surrounding Tulkarm and Nur camps of Aida and Azzeh (Beit Jibrin) . In Aida Camp (900 Shams refugee camps. Jenin, Qalqilia and families; 4,000 inhabitants) approximately 150 shelters Ramallah-El Bireh also sustained damage. suffered some degree of damage and two were completely UNRWA emergency teams produced daily destroyed. In Azzeh (400 families, 1800 inhabitants), the damage assessments and provided necessary smallest refugee camp in the OPT, 260 shelters were assistance to households, including distributions damaged, with some 15 totally destroyed by fire or tank of tents, kitchen equipment and emergency food shells . UNRWA is offering in addition to emergency food parcels specifically designed for long and tight parcels to some 70 % of the population, cash and in-kind occupations. Volunteer teams from the PRCS assistance of essential items, including tents, blankets and delivered essential food and medical items to kitchen kits to the large number of refugees whose shelters families living in residential areas of Ramallah have been damaged. Within three days after the IDF and Al-Bireh. In Jenin extensive trenches are withdrawal over 250 families received direct assistance from being dug at access points around the city, UNRWA in the Bethlehem region worth $145,000. The ICRC reportedly causing damage to drainage pipes and also donated tents and essential supplies to those whose electricity cables. The IDF also carried out raids shelters were destroyed in Azzeh Camp. HWC sent three on the villages of Beit Rima (see below) and large packages of medical aid to Aida and Azzeh refugee Arrabeh in which seven residents were arrested camps, including emergency health equipment donated by and two injured. Solidaridad Internacional. UNICEF provided food and water

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The IDF incursions failed to prevent a series of Rima. The statement noted "the Secretary-General is very attacks against Israeli civilians in Israel and East disturbed to learn that, in spite of international calls on Israel Jerusalem. On 28 October two Islamic Jihad to withdraw its armed forces from Palestinian controlled gunmen opened fire in a busy street of the Israeli areas in the West Bank, Israel has instead intensified its town of Hadera. Four women died in the Hadera occupation of those areas. incident, and dozens of others were injured, before the gunmen were killed. The Palestinian Authority The Secretary-General is especially concerned about condemned the Hadera killings and pledged to reports from the village of Beit Rima, where Israeli forces bring the perp etrators to justice. On 3 November, have launched a major assault today resulting in substantial a lone Hamas gunmen opened fire on a bus in loss of life. The Secretary-General calls on Israel to cease killing two Israeli teenagers, an this attack immediately, withdraw all its forces from Area A attack likewise condemned by the Palestinian and also ensure that Palestinian ambulances and Authority. International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) personnel have full access to the wounded in the village." BEIT -RIMA Beit Rima, located in the northern Ramallah district, is home Relief agencies were only granted access to Beit Rima on to 4,000 inhabitants. On 24 October, the IDF employed heavy 25 October after the complete withdrawal of IDF forces. military equipment, high calibre firearms and numerous tanks UNRWA has provided emergency relief to 30 refugee and in an apparent attempt to arrest the alleged organisers of the 60 non-refugee families in Beit Rima following the Israeli assassination of Tourism Minister Ze’evi. IDF tanks shelled withdrawal. several residential areas and destroyed a number of houses. Five people were killed, and scores injured.

PRCS ambulances prevented from entering Beit Rima. 24 October Results of the 24 October IDF assault in Beit-Rima. Photo courtesy 2001. Photo: courtesy PRCS PRCS – 25 October

Red Crescent ambulances were stopped by Israeli CURFEW S checkpoints and none of the paramedical teams was The entry of IDF forces into Area A cities a nd the permitted to enter the area and provide first aid to the tightening of the siege around the remaining wounded. Instead, the IDF used its own military ambulances cities has paralysed movement between these and medical staff to evacuate the wounded and to collect the cities and the hundreds of surrounding villages. dead. In the early afternoon, an International Committee of The result is a shortage of food and water, Red Cross (ICRC) team was allowed entry to conduct a rapid severely obstructed access of patients and assessment of the situation, accompanied by an IDF patrol. medical crews to hospitals and delays in the The ICRC team was only permitted to stay for a short while supply of medicine and medical consumables. and was unable to visit all the affected residential areas . Local authorities reported that the prolonged curfew regimes in densely populated urban areas In the afternoon of 24 October, UN Secretary General Kofi hinder waste-removal and other maintenance Anan issued a statement concerning the situation in Beit

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activities of municipal services, thus causing the United Nations, which specifically exempt UN serious environmental problems. property from search. The current state of affairs is close to the point where the movement of staff The almost permanent curfew continued in and diplomatic pouches between the two Hebron, restricting the movements of up to Headquarters in Amman and Gaza is coming to a 35,000 residents. standstill.

Dozens of smaller Palestinian towns and villages Apart from the situation at the Allenby (King experienced "search and arrest" campaigns Hussein) Bridge crossing, UNRWA encounters accompanied by 24-hour curfews, varying from problems regarding the shipment of humanitarian one day (Beit Rima) to six-seven days (e.g. goods from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip, and Awarta). At some point the following villages were from the port of Ashdod through the Karni entry under curfew: Betheny, Yabad, , , point continue, with mounting costs to the Immatin, , Jit, , , Agency. In addition to these better-known Surda, Jalboun, Awarta, Zeita, Nazlat Issa, Baqa crossing points, delays and obstructions at Ash-Sharqiyeh, Allar, Deir Nizam. checkpoints and roadblocks within the Gaza Strip and the West Bank continue to hamper UNRWA Commissioner General on Access at UNRWA’s delivery of assistance to refugees. Mr. Hansen then concluded: “We need essentially a the UN Special Political and Decolonisation clear recognition of the fact that the movement of Committee UNRWA vehicles and staff does not in any way Addressing the United Nations Special Political pose a threat to the security of the Israeli and Decolonisation Committee on 29 October in Defence Forces or Israeli citizens. Delays and New York, Mr. Peter Hansen underscored the obstructions in the way of their movements only impact of the closures regime and the Israeli add to the already difficult task of delivery of administrative practices on UNRWA’s capacity to humanitarian assistance and services.” fulfil its mandate under current complex circumstances. Humanitarian Coordination The Humanitarian Task Force on Emergency UNRWA’s ability to deliver humanitarian Needs (HTFEN) held its first session since assistance is severely affected by the whole range January 2001 in on 18 October. The of Israeli closures, checkpoints, blockades and HFTEN was chaired by UNSCO and comprised other restrictions on movements of staff and UN agencies, Ministries of Health and Planning, goods, said Mr. Hansen. He further noted: “the PA, donor representatives and international and access issue has become a constant Palestinian NGOs. The HTFEN reviewed the preoccupation for the Agency. We have been current humanitarian situation in the OPT and bringing these issues to the attention of the Israeli made a number of broad humanitarian policy Ministry of Foreign Affairs on an almost continuous decisions, including inter-agency advocacy basis at all possible levels.” Mr. Hansen initiatives and a joint contingency planning mentioned that notwithstanding the continued process. dialogue with the Israeli authorities, the progress made has been insignificant. The Area Humanitarian Task Force for the West

Bank (ATF) convened its first meeting on 30 On the contrary, over the past six weeks the October to review the situation in the re-occupied search procedures being applied by Israeli areas and to plan a coordinated emergency authorities to UNRWA vehicles have become response. One of the major outcomes of the ATF much more intrusive at the Allenby (King Hussein) was the decision to field multidisciplinary Bridge crossing. Indeed recent incidents indicate humanitarian assessment missions in areas that search procedures are now also being affected by the October 2001 hostilities. extended to Agency vehicles driven by staff holding diplomatic passports. These procedures Minutes of the above coordination fora as well as are inconsistent with the provisions of the 1946 contact lists of their member organizations are Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of available upon request.

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