OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION (COI) REPORT COI Service 15 May 2012 THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES 15 MAY 2012 Contents Preface Latest News EVENTS IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES FROM 1 TO 14 MAY 2012 Useful news sources for further information REPORTS ON THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES PUBLISHED OR ACCESSED BETWEEN 1 AND 14 MAY 2012 Paragraphs Background Information 1. GEOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 1.01 West Bank – Areas „A‟, „B‟ and „C‟ ...................................................................... 1.04 Hebron ............................................................................................................... 1.09 Jerusalem (Arabic: al-Quds) ............................................................................... 1.10 Demographic information .................................................................................... 1.12 Maps ...................................................................................................................... 1.14 2. ECONOMY ................................................................................................................ 2.01 Exchange rate, as of 16 March 2012 ................................................................... 2.08 Corruption ............................................................................................................. 2.09 3. HISTORY: 1917 – 2011 ............................................................................................. 3.01 The Palestine Mandate: 1917 – 1947 ................................................................... 3.01 The creation of Israel: 1948 ................................................................................. 3.02 Arab-Israeli conflicts and Palestinian refugees: 1948 – 1967 ........................... 3.04 1948 – 1949 Arab-Israeli war ............................................................................. 3.04 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli wars ....................................................................... 3.08 1967 ............................................................................................................... 3.08 1973 ............................................................................................................... 3.11 The first Intifada: 1987 – 1993 ............................................................................. 3.12 The Middle East Peace Process (MEPP): 1991 – 1995 ...................................... 3.13 Oslo Accords I & II: September 1993 & September 1995 .................................. 3.15 Palestinian National Authority (PNA), the MEPP, the second (al-Aqsa) Intifada and Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip: 1996 – 2005 ......... 3.20 The construction of the security barrier in the West Bank and the ‗end‘ of the Al Aqsa Intifada .................................................................................................. 3.22 Israeli disengagement from the GazaStrip ......................................................... 3.27 The political rise of Hamas, disintegration of the PNA and the Gaza blockade: 2006 – 2007 ....................................................................................................... 3.29 The MEPP and the Gaza War (Operation „Cast Lead‟): 2008 – 2009 ................. 3.31 The Gaza war (Operation ‗Cast Lead‘): December 2008 – January 2009 .......... 3.33 The Gaza blockade, the MEPP and Palestinian politics 2009 – 2011 ............... 3.36 The Mavi Marmara incident and subsequent relaxation of the blockade of Gaza: May – June 2010 .............................................................. 3.42 Resumption of the MEPP and Israeli settlement construction: September 2010 – August 2011 ................................................................................................... 3.45 Hamas and Fatah‘s attempts at reconciliation and pursuit of international recognition of Palestine as an independent state: May to September 2011 ....... 3.49 4. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: OCTOBER 2011 – 14 MAY 2012 .......................................... 4.01 ii The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 30 April 2012. Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section to 14 May 2012. 15 MAY 2012 THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES 5. POLITICAL SYSTEM ................................................................................................... 5.01 Corruption ............................................................................................................. 5.07 6. PALESTINIAN REFUGEES ............................................................................................ 6.01 Different „categories‟ of refugee .......................................................................... 6.04 Size of the refugee population ............................................................................ 6.05 The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) .................................. 6.11 UNRWA Services to Palestine refugees ............................................................. 6.14 Human Rights 7. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 7.01 West Bank ............................................................................................................. 7.09 Palestinian Authority (PA) .................................................................................. 7.09 Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank ....................................................... 7.11 Gaza Strip .............................................................................................................. 7.16 Hamas ................................................................................................................ 7.16 Israeli forces ....................................................................................................... 7.18 8. SECURITY SITUATION ................................................................................................ 8.01 West Bank ............................................................................................................. 8.02 Israeli impact ...................................................................................................... 8.06 Israeli settlers ................................................................................................. 8.07 Gaza Strip .............................................................................................................. 8.12 Israeli impact ...................................................................................................... 8.14 Enforcement of access restrictions ................................................................ 8.16 9. SECURITY FORCES .................................................................................................... 9.01 West Bank – security forces under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) ............................................................................... 9.04 Palestinian Civil Police (PCP) ............................................................................ 9.07 National Security Force (NSF) ........................................................................... 9.09 Military Intelligence......................................................................................... 9.11 General Intelligence Service (GIS) ..................................................................... 9.13 Preventive Security Organisation (Al-‘amn al-wiqa‘i, Preventive Security Service, Preventive Security Force (PSF), Preventive Security, and Preventive Intelligence) .......................................... 9.15 Human rights violations by security forces under the control of the PA ........ 9.18 Arbitrary arrest and detention ............................................................................. 9.19 Torture ................................................................................................................ 9.24 Extra-judicial killings ........................................................................................... 9.28 Avenues of complaint .......................................................................................... 9.29 Gaza Strip – security forces under the control of Hamas ................................. 9.31 Civil Police .......................................................................................................... 9.32 Internal Security Service (ISS) (Internal Security Apparatus, Internal Security Force) .................................................................................. 9.33 National Security ................................................................................................ 9.34 Human rights violations by security forces under the control of Hamas ........ 9.35 Arbitrary arrest and detention ............................................................................. 9.36 Torture ................................................................................................................ 9.40 Extra-judicial killings ........................................................................................... 9.45 Avenues of complaint .........................................................................................