DOCSLIB.ORG

Christians in Palestine a Threatened Community?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Christians in Palestine a Threatened Community? CMI BRIEF December 2012 Volume 11 No.8 Christians in Palestine A threatened community? Mural from the Armenian Christian Palestinians constitute one of the oldest Christian Quarter in Jerusalem. Photo: Nefissa Naguib communities in the world, and their presence in Palestine dates back to the Roman Era. In modern times, they have been instrumental in shaping a Palestinian national identity, and their influence on Palestinian society far exceeds their numbers. Christian Palestinians also have a history of large-scale emigration. Their survival as a community in Palestine is threatened. Christian Palestinians constitute one of the that Palestinian emigration, both Christian and oldest Christian communities in the world, and Muslim, is a result of the hardships caused by their presence in Palestine dates back to the Israel’s occupation. Israeli authorities contend Roman Era. In modern times, they have been that Muslim radicals force Christians to leave instrumental in shaping a Palestinian national and the Palestinian Authorities does little to protect them. This dispute is part of the Israeli- society far exceeds their numbers. Christian Palestinian battle for international sympathy, identity,Palestinians and alsotheir have influence a history on Palestinian of large-scale and challenges Israel’s strong support among emigration. Their survival as a community in Christian communities in the West. Bård Helge Kårtveit Palestine is threatened. With less than 49 000 people left in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Earlier this year, the US news program 60 Researcher Gaza, there are fears that places like Bethlehem and Jerusalem may have very few Christians left from the West Bank. Fearing a story that would in the near future. Minutesblame Israel made for a thestory hardships on the flight of Christian of Christians Palestinians, Israel’s Ambassador to the US CONFLICTING NARRATIVES contacted the head of CBS News in an attempt The plight of Christian Palestinians is a matter of to kill the story. After it was aired, the program heated debate. The Palestinian Authority argues ignited massive protest from political groups CMI BRIEF DECEMBER 2012 VOLUME 11 NO.8 CHRISTIANS IN PALESTINE – rETAINING A VOICE AND A PRESENCE and individuals in the US, who accused the news off from the city, and Northern Bethlehem, once BRIEF FACTS - channel of inciting hatred against Israel. a thriving commercial district, was transformed CHRISTIANS IN into a ghost-town. Bethlehem hotels and THE PALESTINIAN A LONG HISTORY OF EMIGRATION souvenir-shops - the lifelines of many local TERRITORIES While this dispute is centered on more recent families - were left empty. events, Christian emigration from Palestine dates • History in Palestine dates back more than one hundred years. From the The Separation Wall has been complemented back to early Christianity late 1800s, economic depression and political by new border policies banning West Bank- suppression triggered large-scale migration from residents from entering Jerusalem, a network • Est. 49 000 people in Palestine and other parts of the Ottoman Empire. of checkpoints and roadblocks restricting the West Bank, East Equipped with extensive western contacts, Palestinian movements within the West Jerusalem and Gaza Mission School education and knowledge of Bank, and a denial of West Bank residency (2006). European languages, local Christians lead for Palestinians who hold foreign passports. These and other measures have strengthened • The Christian triangle of Since then, both Christians and Muslims have a structural drive towards further emigration, Bethlehem, Beit Jala and theemigrated first waves in large of emigration numbers, especiallyfrom Palestine. during a drive to which internationally oriented, well- Beit Sahour is home to periods of political hardships. During WWI, educated middle class Christian Palestionians appr. 22 000 Christians. many young Palestinians left for Latin America have been particularly responsive. to escape conscription in the Ottoman army. • 50 % belong to the Greek After the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967, THE FLIGHT OF THE MIDDLE CLASS Orthodox Church, 15 % thousands of people left Palestine in search of Between 2001 and 2005, more than 3000 to the Roman Catholic freedom and safety, primarily in the Americas. out of 25 000 Christians left the Bethlehem Church, 10 % the Greek Early emigrants would help new generations District alone. Since then, an estimated 700 Catholic Church, and the of family members to join them in their host – 900 Christians have left Palestine each rest divided between countries, establishing chains of family migration year. Combined with low birth rates and an more than ten different that continues today making emigration an ageing community, this has served to diminish churches. attractive and feasible option for potential new the Christian presence to little more than a • Primarily employed in emigrants. Today, the Christian Palestinian remaining one perccent of the Palestinian health sector, cultural and diaspora is mainly spread throughout the population, casting doubts about their survival educational institutions Americas, Northern Europa, and Australia. In as a community in Palestine. and Palestinian tourism Chile alone, an estimated 90 000 people are believed to descend from Bethlehem emigrants, • Politically engaged, four times the current population of Christians in and widely oriented Bethlehem. Thanks to extensive family networks Theambitious flight ofmiddle-class Christians isPalestinians part of a broader to other towards, left-wing secular abroad, top notch education because of access problem;parts of the the world. flight Thisof well-educated trend has been and movements. to church-based private schools in Palestine exacerbated by a thwarting of the Palestinian and other factors, Christian Palestinians have economy, leaving young Palestinians in want of • Long history of emigrated three times the rate of Muslim employment and economic opportunities in the emigration, with large Palestinians. West Bank. migrant networks in Latin America, North America, A STRUCTURAL DRIVE TOWARDS EMIGRATION After almost two decades of political stalemate Northern Europe and At different times, Christian emigration has been between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, a Australia. driven by political and economic hardships, and continued expansion of Israeli settlements, and deepening divisions between the Hamas • Well-know Christian has been the primary source of such hardships. leadership in Gaza and the Palestinian Palestinians: George inIn recentparticular, decades, during the the Israeli-Palestinian Second Intifada (2000- conflict Authority in the West Bank, the prospects for a Habash, founder of 2005), a period of low intensity warfare between two-state solution are getting slimmer. With a PFLP, Hanan Ashrawi, Israel and Palestinian militants, Israeli military shortage of jobs and economic opportunities, PLO spokeswoman, and measures in the West Bank was a brutal blow and little hopes of a political long-term Edward Said, Palestinian- against Christian Palestinian livelihoods. settlement, emigration remains an option for American Academic. many Palestinians, both Christian and Muslim. In the Bethlehem districts – a Palestinian Christianity stronghold - the local economy is THE ROLE OF PALESTINIAN CHURCHES heavily dependent on the tourist industry built Among those who remain on the West Bank, around Bethlehem’s biblical heritage. However, local churches are important sources of during the Second Intifada, Israeli isolated the support. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant West Bank from Israel, devastating tourism churches run schools, health clinics, cultural in Bethlehem as well as other sectors of the centres and various charities in the Palestinian local economy. The most important isolation territories. Seeking to halt emigration, local measure was the building of the Separation Wall churches try to ease the economic burden between Israel and the West Bank. In violation on young Palestinians, and build housing of international law, the Wall cuts through the complexes to provide affordable housing Northern part of Bethlehem, and is built like a to young families. Through their various crescent around the town. As a result, large areas institutions, local churches also provide of Bethlehem land has ended up on the Israeli employment to one out of three Christian side, out of the reach of the Christian Palestinian Palestinians in the West Bank. In spite of this, landowners. Bethlehem, which has always poor Palestinians express resentment towards depended on close ties with Jerusalem, was cut some of the churches for not doing enough. The 2 CMI BRIEF DECEMBER 2012 VOLUME 11 NO.8 CHRISTIANS IN PALESTINE – rETAINING A VOICE AND A PRESENCE Greek Orthodox Church in particular which accordance with their own norms, interact with member of the other sex in public places, serve is accused of being unwilling to provide and enjoy alcohol in their cafes and restaurants hasservices vast financialresponding resources to the needs and land of their holdings local etc. To a large extent, this is already a reality for laity. the tiny Christian communities in the Northern part of the West Bank, and for the less than 3000 For many years, local churches were also seen as reluctant to take a stand in the themselves under pressure to conform to Islamic Christiansnorms. This who sense still of live cultural in Gaza, vulnerability and who find is international donors, or jeopardize
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Relational Processes in Ayahuasca Groups of Palestinians and Israelis
    ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 19 May 2021 doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.607529 Relational Processes in Ayahuasca Groups of Palestinians and Israelis Leor Roseman 1*, Yiftach Ron 2,3, Antwan Saca, Natalie Ginsberg 4, Lisa Luan 1, Nadeem Karkabi 5, Rick Doblin 4 and Robin Carhart-Harris 1 1Centre for Psychedelic Research, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, 2Faculty of Social Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, 3School of Creative Arts Therapies, Kibbutzim College, Tel Aviv, Israel, 4Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), Santa Cruz, CA, United States, 5Anthropology Department, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel Psychedelics are used in many group contexts. However, most phenomenological research on psychedelics is focused on personal experiences. This paper presents a phenomenological investigation centered on intersubjective and intercultural relational processes, exploring how an intercultural context affects both the group and individual process. Through 31 in-depth interviews, ceremonies in which Palestinians and Israelis Edited by: Alex K. Gearin, drink ayahuasca together have been investigated. The overarching question guiding this Xiamen University, China inquiry was how psychedelics might contribute to processes of peacebuilding, and in Reviewed by: particular how an intercultural context, embedded in a protracted conflict, would affect the Ismael Apud, group’s psychedelic process in a relational sense. Analysis of the interviews was based on University of the Republic, Uruguay Olivia Marcus,
    [Show full text]
  • The-Legal-Status-Of-East-Jerusalem.Pdf
    December 2013 Written by: Adv. Yotam Ben-Hillel Cover photo: Bab al-Asbat (The Lion’s Gate) and the Old City of Jerusalem. (Photo by: JC Tordai, 2010) This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position or the official opinion of the European Union. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent, international humanitarian non- governmental organisation that provides assistance, protection and durable solutions to refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide. The author wishes to thank Adv. Emily Schaeffer for her insightful comments during the preparation of this study. 2 Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 2. Background ............................................................................................................................ 6 3. Israeli Legislation Following the 1967 Occupation ............................................................ 8 3.1 Applying the Israeli law, jurisdiction and administration to East Jerusalem .................... 8 3.2 The Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel ................................................................... 10 4. The Status
    [Show full text]
  • Popular Culture, Relational History, and the Question of Power in Palestine and Israel Author(S): Rebecca L
    Institute for Palestine Studies Popular Culture, Relational History, and the Question of Power in Palestine and Israel Author(s): Rebecca L. Stein and Ted Swedenburg Source: Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 33, No. 4 (Summer, 2004), pp. 5-20 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3247543 Accessed: 18/05/2009 11:53 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucal. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. University of California Press and Institute for Palestine Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Palestine Studies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Palestinian Economy in East Jerusalem, Some Pertinent Aspects of Social Conditions Are Reviewed Below
    UNITED N A TIONS CONFERENC E ON T RADE A ND D EVELOPMENT Enduring annexation, isolation and disintegration UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT Enduring annexation, isolation and disintegration New York and Geneva, 2013 Notes The designations employed and the presentation of the material do not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. ______________________________________________________________________________ Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document. ______________________________________________________________________________ Material in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted, but acknowledgement is requested, together with a copy of the publication containing the quotation or reprint to be sent to the UNCTAD secretariat: Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. ______________________________________________________________________________ The preparation of this report by the UNCTAD secretariat was led by Mr. Raja Khalidi (Division on Globalization and Development Strategies), with research contributions by the Assistance to the Palestinian People Unit and consultant Mr. Ibrahim Shikaki (Al-Quds University, Jerusalem), and statistical advice by Mr. Mustafa Khawaja (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Ramallah). ______________________________________________________________________________ Cover photo: Copyright 2007, Gugganij. Creative Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org (accessed 11 March 2013). (Photo taken from the roof terrace of the Austrian Hospice of the Holy Family on Al-Wad Street in the Old City of Jerusalem, looking towards the south. In the foreground is the silver dome of the Armenian Catholic church “Our Lady of the Spasm”.
    [Show full text]
  • Conflicts, Occupation, and Music-Making in Palestine
    Conflicts, Occupation, and Music-Making in Palestine Chuen-Fung Wong Music can give something even the Israelis can’t encroach on; a chance for the kids to open their minds into a space that isn’t filled with fear, uncertainty and a relentlessly building resent- ment, a space to be inventive, fanciful and free—a space to be kids. Andrew Kirkman, “Making Music under Occupation,” 2004. If, when they grow up, they decide to turn themselves into bombs, OK, that’s up to them; but for now I want to give them a chance to see another possibility, to discover that there are other, more productive things they can turn their minds to. Yassir, the founder of Karama, a non-governmental organization for children and teenagers in Deheishe Refugee Camp near Bethlehem (as quoted in Kirkman 2004). This article began as a reflective essay for the Faculty Development International Seminar of Macalester College, Minnesota, entitled, The Israeli-Palestinian Impasse: Dialogic Transformations, in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The seminar involved a semester-long preparation of lectures, colloquia, and readings in St. Paul, Minnesota, leading to a three-week on-site seminar and research in the West Bank cities of Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Bethlehem, in May and June 2008. As an ethnomusicologist focused primarily on the Central Asian musical traditions of the Uyghur—Turkic-speaking Muslims in north- west China whose problematic relations with the Chinese state have spurred substantial racial/ethnic and sociopolitical conflict—I came to be interested in the topic of the Israel-Palestinian conflict from a com- parative standpoint.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel 2019 International Religious Freedom Report
    ISRAEL 2019 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT Executive Summary This section covers Israel, including Jerusalem. In December 2017, the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It is the position of the United States that the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations between the parties. The Palestinian Authority (PA) exercises no authority over Jerusalem. In March 2019, the United States recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. A report on the West Bank and Gaza, including areas subject to the jurisdiction of the PA, is appended at the end of this report. The country’s laws and Supreme Court rulings protect the freedoms of conscience, faith, religion, and worship, regardless of an individual’s religious affiliation, and the 1992 “Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty” protects additional individual rights. In 2018, the Knesset passed the “Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People.” According to the government, that “law determines, among other things, that the Land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people; the State of Israel is the nation state of the Jewish People, in which it realizes its natural, cultural, religious and historical right to self-determination; and exercising the right to national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish People.” The government continued to allow controlled access to religious sites, including the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif (the site containing the foundation of the first and second Jewish temple and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque).
    [Show full text]
  • What Native Christians in the Middle East Continue to Face: Why It Matters for Both the Caring and the Unconcerned
    What Native Christians in the Middle East Continue to Face: Why it Matters for Both the Caring and the Unconcerned By Habib C. Malik [The annual Earl A. Pope Guest Lecture in World Christianity, delivered at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at 7:00 pm.] There have been Christians and Christian communities living in the Middle East since the dawn of Christianity. After the better part of twenty centuries in and around the Land of the Lord’s Incarnation and Resurrection, however, the presence of these native Christians is threatened with nothing less than termination. What exists today of these communities are the few tenacious remnants scattered throughout the Levant, Iraq, and Egypt of the earlier far larger and more geographically prevalent ones that have steadily dwindled over time due to sustained stresses and pressures brought on historically for the most part from the encounter with Islam. Today, in the early 21st century, the rise of militant and violent Islamism combined with a pervading apathy in the wider world as to the plight of these beleaguered Christian communities threaten to hasten the final demise of Christianity in and around its original birthplace. The bleak future for Christians native to the Middle East, I submit to you tonight, relates organically to the state of Christians and Christianity in today’s largely post-Christian secular Europe, and in the West as a whole. Many will dismiss this alleged connection out of hand, but it continues to impose itself thunderously in the face of all such denial and disinterest.
    [Show full text]
  • The Plight of Palestinian Refugees in Syria in the Camps South of Damascus by Metwaly Abo Naser, with the Support of Ryme Katkhouda and Devorah Hill
    Expert Analysis January 2017 Syrian voices on the Syrian conflict: The plight of Palestinian refugees in Syria in the camps south of Damascus By Metwaly Abo Naser, with the support of Ryme Katkhouda and Devorah Hill Introduction: the historical role of Palestinians the Oslo Accords in 1992 and the resulting loss by both the in Syria Palestinian diaspora in general and the inhabitants of the After they took refuge in Syria after the 1948 war, al-Yarmouk refugee camp in particular of their position as Palestinians refugees were treated in the same way as a key source of both material and ideological support for other Syrian citizens. Their numbers eventually reached the Palestinian armed revolution in the diaspora. This was 450,000, living mostly in 11 refugee camps throughout Syria due in part to the failure of the various Palestinian national (UNRWA, 2006). Permitted to fully participate in the liberation factions to identify new ways of engaging the economic and social life of Syrian society, they had the diaspora – including the half million Palestinians living in same civic and economic rights and duties as Syrians, Syria – in the Palestinian struggle for the liberation of the except that they could neither be nominated for political land occupied by Israel. office nor participate in elections. This helped them to feel that they were part of Syrian society, despite their refugee This process happened slowly. After the Israeli blockade of status and active role in the global Palestinian liberation Lebanon in 1982, the Palestinian militant struggle declined. struggle against the Israeli occupation of their homeland.
    [Show full text]
  • Working Paper 2006/29
    EUI WORKING PAPERS RSCAS No. 2006/29 Lebanese Politics of Nationality and Emigration Thibaut Jaulin EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Mediterranean Programme Series jaulin cov.indd 1 19/09/2006 12:02:40 EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE, FLORENCE ROBERT SCHUMAN CENTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES Lebanese Politics of Nationality and Emigration THIBAUT JAULIN EUI Working Paper RSCAS No. 2006/29 BADIA FIESOLANA, SAN DOMENICO DI FIESOLE (FI) © 2006 Thibaut Jaulin This text may be downloaded only for personal research purposes. Any additional reproduction for such purposes, whether in hard copies or electronically, require the consent of the author. Requests should be addressed directly to the author. See contact details at end of text. If cited or quoted, reference should be made to the full name of the author, the title, the working paper, or other series, the year and the publisher. Any reproductions for other purposes require the consent of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. The author should inform the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the EUI if the paper will be published elsewhere and also take responsibility for any consequential obligation(s). ISSN 1028-3625 Printed in Italy in September 2006 European University Institute Badia Fiesolana I – 50016 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) Italy http://www.iue.it/RSCAS/Publications/ http://cadmus.iue.it/dspace/index.jsp Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies carries out disciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the areas of European integration and public policy in Europe. It hosts the annual European Forum.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernard Sabella, Bethlehem University, Palestine COMPARING PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS on SOCIETY and POLITICS: CONTEXT and RELIGION
    Bernard Sabella, Bethlehem University, Palestine COMPARING PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS ON SOCIETY AND POLITICS: CONTEXT AND RELIGION IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE Palestinian Christians, both in the Palestinian Territories (Palestine) and in Israel, number close to 180,000 altogether. Close to 50,000 of them live in the Palestinian Territories while roughly 130,000 live in Israel. In both cases, Christian Palestinians make up less than 2 percent of the overall population. In Israel, Christians make up 11% of the Arab population of over one million while in Palestine the Christians make up less than two percent (1.7%) of the entire population of three million. (1). In 1995 a survey of a national sample of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza on attitudes to society, politics and economics was conducted. It included surveying a group of 340 Christians from different localities in the West Bank and Gaza. (2). This survey provided a basis for comparing attitudes of Christians to those of their Muslim compatriots. In March 2000, a survey was conducted for the purpose of comparing the attitudes of Palestinian Christians in both Palestine and Israel. The same questionnaire was used, except for some modifications, in both the 1995 and 2000 surveys. (3). While the two surveys do not add up to a longitudinal study they, nevertheless, provide a basis to compare between two samples of Palestinian Christians in Palestine in 1995 and 2000 and between Palestinian Christians in Palestine and Israel for the year 2000. The responses of Muslim Palestinians in the 1995 survey also provide an opportunity to compare their responses with those of Christians in Israel and Palestine.
    [Show full text]
  • Working Paper 2006/25
    EUI WORKING PAPERS RSCAS No. 2006/25 Waiting on the Purgatory: Religious Networks of Iraqi Christian Transit Migrants in Istanbul A. Didem Daniş EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Mediterranean Programme Series 06_25 cover.indd 1 30/08/2006 11:17:47 EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE, FLORENCE ROBERT SCHUMAN CENTRE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES Waiting on the Purgatory: Religious Networks of Iraqi Christian Transit Migrants in Istanbul A. DIDEM DANIŞ EUI Working Paper RSCAS No. 2006/25 BADIA FIESOLANA, SAN DOMENICO DI FIESOLE (FI) © 2006 A. Didem Daniş This text may be downloaded only for personal research purposes. Any additional reproduction for such purposes, whether in hard copies or electronically, requires the consent of the author. Requests should be addressed directly to the author. See contact details at end of text. If cited or quoted, reference should be made to the full name of the author, the title, the working paper, or other series, the year and the publisher. Any reproductions for other purposes require the consent of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies. The author should inform the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the EUI if the paper will be published elsewhere and also take responsibility for any consequential obligation(s). ISSN 1028-3625 Printed in Italy in August 2006 European University Institute Badia Fiesolana I – 50016 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) Italy http://www.iue.it/RSCAS/Publications/ http://cadmus.iue.it/dspace/index.jsp Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies carries out disciplinary and interdisciplinary research in the areas of European integration and public policy in Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Palestine Water Fact Sheet #1
    hrough e t hu ic m t a FACT SHEET s n ju r l i a g i h c t o s THE RIGHT TO WATER IN PALESTINE: A BACKGROUND s 11 C E S R he Israeli confiscation and control of LEGEND ability to manage water resources and just Palestinian water resources is a defining Groundwater flow allocates the limited supply made available by T feature of the Israeli occupation and a LEBANON Groundwater divide Israel, the PWA, rather than the Occupation, is GOLAN major impediment to a just resolution of the Israeli National Water HEIGHTS blamed for water scarcity. Moreover, the Oslo Israel-Palestine conflict. Furthermore, Israel’s Carrier Sea of II agreement does not call for redistribution of control of Palestinian water resources Armistice Demarcation Galilee Line, 1949 existing water sources nor require any undermines any possibility for sustainable Haifa Tiberias Syria-Israel Cease Fire reduction in water extraction or consumption development and violates Palestinians’ human Line, 1967 Nazareth by Israelis or settlers. right to safe, accessible, and adequate drinking Palestinian Territory Occupied by Israel (June n Jenin a water. Israel’s discriminatory water policy 1967) d r • Since 2000, after the onset of the Second o Northern J maintains an unequal allocation of water between Aquifer r e v Intifada in September, the Israeli army has Tu l k a re m i Israel, illegal Israeli settler communities and R intensified the destruction of water infrastruc- Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian Nablus Western ture and confiscation ofwater sources in the 7 territory (oPt), while appropriating an ever greater Te l Av i v Aquifer WEST r BANK West Bank and Gaza.
    [Show full text]