THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION (COI) REPORT COI Service 2 December 2010 THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES 2 DECEMBER 2010 Contents Preface Latest News EVENTS IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES FROM 14 NOVEMBER TO 2 DECEMBER 2010 Useful news sources for further information REPORTS ON THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES PUBLISHED OR ACCESSED BETWEEN 14 NOVEMBER AND 2 DECEMBER 2010 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 12 November 2010 ............................................................ 2.07 Corruption............................................................................................................. 2.08 3. HISTORY: 1917 – 2010............................................................................................. 3.01 The Palestine Mandate: 1917 – 1947................................................................... 3.01 The creation of Israel: 1948 ................................................................................. 3.02 Arab-Israeli conflicts and Palestinian refugees: 1948 – 1967........................... 3.03 1948 – 1949 Arab-Israeli war ............................................................................. 3.03 1967 Arab-Israeli war ......................................................................................... 3.07 The first Intifada: 1987 – 1993 ............................................................................. 3.09 The Middle East Peace Process (MEPP): 1991 – 1995 ...................................... 3.10 Oslo Accords I & II: September 1993 & September 1995 .................................. 3.11 Palestinian National Authority (PNA), the MEPP, the second (al-Aqsa) Intifada and Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip: 1996 – 2005......... 3.14 The political rise of Hamas and disintegration of the PNA: 2006 – 2007......... 3.22 The MEPP and the Gaza War (Operation ‘Cast Lead’): 2008 – 2009................. 3.24 The Gaza war (Operation ‘Cast Lead’): December 2008 – January 2009.......... 3.26 The tightening of the Gaza blockade and the MEPP: 2009 – 2010 ................... 3.29 4. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS: MAY – NOVEMBER 2010..................................................... 4.01 5. POLITICAL SYSTEM ................................................................................................... 5.01 Corruption............................................................................................................. 5.05 6. PALESTINIAN REFUGEES............................................................................................ 6.01 Different ‘categories’ of refugee.......................................................................... 6.02 Size of the refugee population ............................................................................ 6.03 The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).................................. 6.07 UNRWA Services to Palestine refugees ............................................................. 6.10 Human Rights 7. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 7.01 West Bank ............................................................................................................. 7.07 ii The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 13 November 2010. Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section to 2 December 2010. 2 DECEMBER 2010 THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES Palestinian Authority (PA) .................................................................................. 7.07 Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank ....................................................... 7.09 Gaza Strip.............................................................................................................. 7.13 Hamas................................................................................................................ 7.13 Israeli forces....................................................................................................... 7.15 8. SECURITY SITUATION ................................................................................................ 8.01 West Bank ............................................................................................................. 8.03 Israeli impact ...................................................................................................... 8.06 Israeli settlers................................................................................................. 8.08 Gaza Strip.............................................................................................................. 8.10 Israeli impact ...................................................................................................... 8.13 Enforcement of access restrictions ................................................................ 8.14 9. SECURITY FORCES .................................................................................................... 9.01 West Bank – security forces under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) ............................................................................... 9.05 Palestinian Civil Police (PCP) ............................................................................ 9.07 National Security Force (NSF) ........................................................................... 9.08 Military Intelligence......................................................................................... 9.09 General Intelligence Service (GIS)..................................................................... 9.10 Human rights violations by security forces under the control of the PA ........ 9.11 Arbitrary arrest and detention............................................................................. 9.12 Torture................................................................................................................ 9.14 Extra-judicial killings........................................................................................... 9.16 Avenues of complaint .......................................................................................... 9.18 Gaza Strip – security forces under the control of Hamas................................. 9.20 Civil Police.......................................................................................................... 9.22 Internal Security Service (ISS) ........................................................................... 9.23 National Security ................................................................................................ 9.24 Human rights violations by security forces under the control of Hamas........ 9.25 Arbitrary arrest and detention............................................................................. 9.27 Torture................................................................................................................ 9.29 Extra-judicial killings........................................................................................... 9.31 Avenues of complaint .......................................................................................... 9.34 Israeli forces ......................................................................................................... 9.36 Human rights violations by members of the Israeli forces............................... 9.37 West Bank.......................................................................................................... 9.43 Gaza Strip .......................................................................................................... 9.45 ‘Operation Cast Lead’: December 2008 – January 2009 ............................... 9.47 Avenues of complaint .......................................................................................... 9.50 10. ABUSES BY NON-GOVERNMENT ARMED FORCES .......................................................... 10.01 11. JUDICIARY................................................................................................................ 11.01 West Bank ............................................................................................................. 11.02 Organisation....................................................................................................... 11.02 Independence .................................................................................................... 11.05 Fair trial .............................................................................................................. 11.06 Gaza