July 1991, Page 74

Human Rights

By Sally Clark Nyhan

Many Palestinians Facing Starvation in Occupied Territories

Palestinians in the occupiedterritories are suffering more hardships than at any time since the 1967 Israeli takeover, the Coordinating Committee of the International Non-Governmental Organizations (CCINGO) recently reported.

The Jerusalem-based group is an ad hoc committee of 31 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), whose members have compiled their findings under one heading.

On May 9, CCINGO issued a release, Undermining 'Confidence Building Measures, 'stating, "Israel continues to flagrantly violate the international laws governing its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the period since [US Secretary of State James] Baker's first visit in early March, there has been a disturbing increase in the scale and number of direct violations including ... massive seizures of Palestinian land and the accelerated relocation of Israeli citizens into the occupied territories.

"The irreconcilability of Israel's practices in the occupied territories with the minimum standards of humanitarian behavior ... is a major obstacle to the resolution of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, " the group concluded. "By refusing to conform to the provisions [of the 1907 Hague Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949] ... Israel demonstrates indifference to 'confidence-building' and actively undermines the feasibility of a negotiated settlement."

According to the Geneva Convention and Hague Regulations, Israel's occupation is governed by three rules: obligations, restrictions, and absolute prohibitions (also known as grave breaches). Under the category of obligations, Israel is "obliged to preserve public order and ensure the welfare of the occupied population. Israeli authorities, however, routinely disrupt the normal functioning of all sectors of Palestinian civil society including educational, religious and medical institutions," CCINGO stated.

Under the category of restrictions, Israel "is forbidden to either deport residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip or to transfer its own civilian population into Palestinian areas under its control. "

Finally, in the category of absolute prohibitions, under Article 147 of the Geneva Convention, "perpetrators of 'grave breaches' are regarded as international outlaws and are subject to prosecution in any of the signatory countries. " Grave breaches include willful killings, torture, unlawful deportation, arbitrary arrest and extensive destruction of property.

Israel has violated all three regulations, CCINGO points out, even during Baker's visit. At least 20 Palestinians were killed in the period from March 1 to May 8; four new settlements were begun and existing ones enlarged; four Gazans were ordered to be deported March 23 (their cases are under appeal); and from March to May, approximately 650 Palestinians were placed under administrative detention.

CCINGO concluded, "Diplomatic initiatives have clearly failed to convince Israel of the need to respect international law. Recognizing that Palestinians are killed, tortured, deprived of their property, and arrested on a daily basis, we call upon the signatories of the Fourth Geneva Convention, in general, and the members of the Security Council specifically, to urgently adopt means for the implementation of [UN] Resolution 681 [deploring Israel's resumption of the deportation of Palestinians]. We also request that the countries which provide Israel with preferential trade agreements and massive foreign aid review their current policies and use their leverage to bring Israel into compliance with international law."

A second release from CCINGO on May 24 focused on the economic difficulties facing Palestinians in the occupied territories. Economists and social workers estimate that more Palestinians are currently below the poverty level than at any time since 1967. The prime reason for the drop in income is the extended war curfew and the post-war restrictions on Palestinian workers. Almost 30 percent of the Palestinian population in the occupied territories is now unemployed.

In Gaza, more than 50,000 refugee families have received emergency food rations from UNWRA since the end of the war.

"The economic crisis is particularly acute in West Bank villages dependent upon wages earned inside Israel, " CCINGO observes. For instance, in the village of Qifeen, only 150 out of 2500 workers formerly working in Israel are now employed there. In many villages there is a severe lack of milk for infants and many are being fed unpasteurized cow's milk, which often causes sickness.

CCINGO also commented on Israeli land confiscations and settlements, noting that at least four new settlements are underway in the occupied territories.

Since 1967, CCINGO notes, 65 percent of the land in the West Bank and 50 percent in Gaza has been confiscated by Israel. Palestinians are prohibited from purchasing or using these lands. Land confiscation continues at a rapid pace, with over 18,000 dunums expropriated since March 1.

Current activity focuses on enlarging existing settlements, despite up to 70 percent vacancy rates. Says the report, " . . . plans are presently under way to build 17,784 new units in 55 different settlements. Many of these units will be built by Palestinian labor on land confiscated from Palestinian villages."

East Jerusalem is the focus of more settlement activity than Gaza and the West Bank combined. Israeli sources plan 36,000 new housing units in the next 10 years, while Palestinians will be allowed to build only 9,000 in the same period.

Sally Clark Nyhan is the human rights editor for the Washington Report and the book club editor at the American Educational Trust.