Israel-Palestine: For Human Values in the Absence of a Just Peace | Page 27
Israel-Palestine: For Human Values in the Absence of a Just Peace
impediments to movement as Palestinians. They live under Israeli civil law, not military
rule, and thus are not subject to military detentions.
Israelis also suffer from lack of security, due to threats and activities by
Palestinian groups and individuals, including dozens of suicide attacks with bombs on
buses and in markets in the second intifada and recently attacks with knives. Hamas has
launched over 8000 rockets from Gaza into Israel since 2005, resulting in dozens of
Israelis killed and perhaps thousands injured. Many Israelis living near Gaza have
reported symptoms of PTSD.
In sum, neither side is totally secure, although the Palestinians suffer more from
the lack of security.
Borders
The effective borders between Palestinian and Israeli areas are largely unofficial
and incompatible with a two-state solution. Israel built 85% of the separation wall on the
Palestinian side of the Green Line, the internationally recognized border that defined the
extent of Israel and those areas controlled by Jordan (the West Bank and East Jerusalem)
and Egypt (Gaza) after the 1948 War.lx In the Six-day War of 1967, Israel invaded and
occupied the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights. Subsequently, UN resolution 242
of 1967 stipulated that Israel has to withdraw from the lands it occupied in the 1967 war;
Resolution 338 reaffirmed this in 1973. Nonetheless, land seizure, settlement expansion,
building the separation wall, restrictions on land use by Palestinians, and the demarcation
of land into three areas in the West Bank have continues, decimating the territory that
Palestinians can use. Land that many believe would comprise a Palestinian state (i.e., all
of the West Bank and East Jerusalem) is not available now, due to Israeli building and
control. Most observers believe that viable Palestinian state would need to have mostly
contiguous territory and reach to Jordan, with control of that border. Neither the facts-onthe-ground found by the study team nor the statements of top Israeli officials give any
reason to believe that this reality of land use will become fairer for Palestinians in the
foreseeable future.
The Israeli-controlled separation barrier and the many Israeli military checkpoints
within the West Bank inhibit or wholly prevent Palestinians from moving between work
and home, visiting friends and family, traveling between the various areas controlled by
the Palestinian Authority, and visiting East Jerusalem and the holy sites of the Old City.
While Palestinians can move within Gaza, they are almost entirely trapped there. And
East Jerusalem residents who are Palestinian face forced eviction by settler seizure of
land and property and due to insecure residency status.lxi
Besides the problem of the border’s location, the Israeli authorities’ harsh
treatment of Palestinians at checkpoints on the border, and within the OPT worsens,
living conditions and exacerbates the conflict. Long waiting times and unpredictable
closures not only impair the chances for Palestinians to have gainful employment, they
also disrupt the Palestinians’ access to education, health care and other social services.
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