Protection in the occupied Palestinian territories: “They can do projects here for 1,000 years and nothing will change” By Rafael Eguiguren & Luna Saadeh October 2014 L2GP is an initiative, which works to promote effective, efficient and sustainable responses and solutions to humanitarian and protection crises with an explicit focus on enabling locally-led responses. Contact us at [email protected] and read more at http://www.local2global.info/ Authors’ bio: Rafael Eguiguren has worked in over 60 countries focusing on policy advice and field work in the fields of Conflict Resolution and Intercultural Dialogue, Civil Society, Gender, Human Rights and Development issues. He has extensive experience in evaluation and project management, social research, advocacy and a strong dedication to training and capacity building both in academic and in informal settings. Luna Saadeh has a Master degree in Women’s Development and Law from Bir-Zeit Univer- sity (2001). She is Gender and women rights expert with 20 years of experience working from the Middle East with international development agencies and local government. She has consulted on gender related issues such as women political participation, gen- der based violence, women health and women rights with numerous international and national organisations. About Local to Global Protection Local to Global Protection (L2GP) L2GP is an initiative, which works to promote effec- tive, efficient and sustainable responses and solutions to humanitarian and protection crises with an explicit focus on enabling locally-led responses. L2GP studies have been carried out in Burma/Myanmar, Sudan, South Sudan and Zimbabwe and action research is currently undertaken in Syria, Myanmar, Sudan and the occupied Palestinian territories. L2GP was initiated by a group of organizations within the ACT Alliance1 in cooperation with other organizations and individuals where the studies have taken place. The initiative has among other been financially supported by Church of Sweden, DanChurchAid, Sida (Sweden) and Danida (Denmark). A paper summarizing the initiative and synthesizing key findings from the first five studies has been published by the Overseas Development Institute's Humanitarian Policy Group (ODI HPG) as the HPN Paper 72.2 Contact us at [email protected] Read more at http://www.local2global.info 1The ACT Alliance is a coalition of more than 140 affiliated organisations working together in 140 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards. 2HPN Paper 72 - http://www.odi.org.uk/events/2798-hpn-network-paper-local-global-protection-myanmar- burma-sudan-south-sudan-zimbabwe 2 Contents 1 Protection in the occupied Palestinian territories - Summary 5 1.1 Introduction and Executive Summary ....................... 5 1.1.1 Threats Identified by Communities .................... 5 1.1.2 Trying to deal with Threats ......................... 7 1.1.3 Conclusions and General Recommendations .............. 8 1.2 Findings ........................................... 9 1.2.1 General Findings ................................ 9 1.2.2 Gender Specific Findings .......................... 12 1.3 Conclusions and Recommendations ........................ 13 1.3.1 General Conclusions and Recommendations .............. 13 1.3.2 Operational Recommendations ...................... 15 2 Full Study 19 2.1 Main Aims of the Study ................................ 19 2.2 Structure of the Study .................................. 20 2.3 Methodology, Local Researchers and Coverage .................. 20 2.4 Acknowledgements .................................... 22 2.5 Background: Situation in Palestine ......................... 22 3 Jerusalem 27 3.1 Background: Situation in Jerusalem ......................... 27 3.2 Main Protection Challenges in East Jerusalem .................. 28 3.2.1 Displacement-related Threats ........................ 30 3.2.2 Unemployment ................................. 38 3.3 Main Self-protection and Coping Strategies in East Jerusalem ........ 40 3.3.1 Displacement-related Strategies ....................... 40 3.3.2 Unemployment - Strategies ......................... 45 3.4 Community's Main Considerations on External Aid in East Jerusalem .. 47 3.5 Conclusions and Recommendations for East Jerusalem ............ 48 3.5.1 Recommendations ............................... 48 4 Area C 53 4.1 Background: Situation in Area C .......................... 53 4.1.1 Palestinians in Area C ............................ 53 4.1.2 Israel's Continued Control over Area C and its Legal Obligations 53 4.1.3 Humanitarian interventions in Area C ................. 56 4.2 Main Protection Challenges in Area C ....................... 57 4.2.1 Water Shortage ................................. 58 4.2.2 Electricity shortage .............................. 61 4.2.3 Unemployment ................................. 62 4.2.4 Lack of transportation ............................ 64 4.3 Main Self-protection and Coping Strategies in Area C ............. 66 3 CONTENTS 4.3.1 Water shortage - Strategies .......................... 66 4.3.2 Electricity Shortage - Strategies ....................... 69 4.3.3 Unemployment - Strategies ......................... 70 4.3.4 Lack of Transportation - Strategies .................... 72 4.4 Community's Main Considerations on External Aid in Area C ....... 73 4.4.1 External Interventions Related to Protection Threats ........ 73 4.4.2 External Interventions in Supporting Community Strategies to Overcome Protection Threats ........................ 75 4.4.3 Good Practice in Relation to External Interventions ......... 76 4.4.4 Negative Aspects of External Interventions ............... 76 4.5 Conclusions and Recommendations for Area C ................. 77 4.5.1 Operational Recommendations arising from the Interviewees in Area C ...................................... 79 5 Gaza Strip 83 5.1 Background: Situation in Gaza Strip ........................ 83 5.1.1 Humanitarian Interventions in the Gaza Strip ............. 85 5.2 Main Protection Challenges in the Gaza Strip .................. 86 5.2.1 Unemployment ................................. 87 5.2.2 Domestic Violence and Violence within the Family ......... 91 5.3 Main Self-protection and Coping strategies in the Gaza Strip ........ 95 5.3.1 Unemployment - Strategies ......................... 95 5.3.2 Domestic Violence and Violence within the Family - Strategies .. 96 5.4 Community's Main Considerations on External Aid in the Gaza Strip .. 98 5.4.1 External Interventions related to Protection Challenges ....... 98 5.4.2 Good Practice in Relation to External Interventions ......... 99 5.5 Conclusions and Recommendations for the Gaza Strip ............ 99 5.5.1 Practical Recommendations arising from the Interviewees in Gaza Strip ........................................ 102 A Interview Guide / Questionnaire 105 A.1 Collection of Interviewee/Focus Group Data ................... 105 A.2 Before Starting the Interview ............................. 105 A.3 Start of the Interview .................................. 106 B Rationale behind Interview Guide / Questionnaire 109 B.1 Before Starting the interview ............................. 109 B.1.1 Casual talk .................................... 109 B.1.2 General Introduction of the Study .................... 110 B.2 Start of the Interview .................................. 111 B.2.1 Intro ........................................ 111 B.2.2 Problems as Perceived by the Community ............... 111 B.2.3 Coping Strategies used by the Community to Address Problems . 114 B.2.4 External Support ................................ 116 C Ex ante expected added value from Interview Guide / Questionnaire 119 D Training concept for 32 local researchers 121 4 Chapter 1 Protection in the occupied Pales- tinian territories - Summary "They can do projects here for 1,000 years and nothing will change" I don't understand why the international actors do what they do. They come here with aid and development projects, but that is not effective (:::). It is not effective because the problem here is not a specific crisis, but a long-standing occupation. You have to realize that with the present logic, they can do projects for 1,000 years and nothing will change (:::). So please stop giving us blankets and do the right thing by holding Israel accountable. Woman, Ramallah, West Bank 1.1 Introduction and Executive Summary Since 2009, the Local to Global Protection (L2GP) initiative has undertaken action re- search with crisis-affected communities to better understand protection challenges from a local perspective. Coupled with research on how communities are coping with crisis and their opinions on appropriate and effective solutions, the research hopes to contribute to increased effectiveness of humanitarian actors and action. The present research on the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) is the sixth full L2GP study to date, and it is based on interviews with over 500 men and women living in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. 1.1.1 Threats Identified by Communities Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories stress that the main protection threat they face is what they see as the very cause of the crisis itself - the Israeli occupation. Lo- cal communities consider this threat more important than any other and the root of any other