Since it occupied the OPT in 1967 – and regardless of the Oslo process – Israel has reserved exclusive power of civil registration and issuing of IDs for Palestinians. It unilaterally administers entry visas and work permits for the tens…
After victory in the 1967 Six Day war, Israel annexed East Jerusalem – that part of the city that had been under Jordanian rule since the end of the British Mandate in 1948 – together with an additional 64 square…
Israel’s policy of demolishing Palestinian homes is part and parcel of an overall policy of displacement in which 80% of the Palestinians have been pushed from what has become Israel. Almost half of the entire Palestinian people (those living in…
The Israeli government began building the Separation Wall in June 2002. Now half-completed, it is projected to run for almost 700km. Almost 75% of its total length is inside the West Bank, rather than along the Green Line, the internationally-recognised…
Under international humanitarian law an occupying power is solely responsible for providing humanitarian assistance to the people of the territory it occupies. In the occupied Palestinian territory, this responsibility lies with Israel. However, the reality is that since 1967 the…
Construction of the Wall in the occupied Palestinian territories has had a harsh impact on Palestinian farmers, separating many from their land. Catholic Relief Services Palestine[1] has initiated a project to try to mitigate the impact. The Wall follows a…
Israel’s so-called Separation Barrier is monstrous, a political and humanitarian catastrophe that threatens any final negotiated settlement, cuts Jerusalem off from its hinterland, separates farmers from their fields, divides families and provides yet another source of humiliation for the Palestinian…
Palestinian incomes have fallen by 40% over the last four years. The economy has been shattered by sieges, curfews, restrictions on movement of people and goods, and targetted destruction of infrastructure. Intimidation by settlers and the Israeli army, the construction…
Identifying IDPs in Israel and in the OPT – on the basis of the definition provided by the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement[1] – is difficult. UNRWA considers all those who lost their homes in 1948 as refugees, yet the…
Before the establishment of the state of Israel, the Bedouin of the Negev – who are culturally distinct from the Bedouin of the Galilee – were the vast majority of the population of the region and lived as nomadic pastoralists…