The West Bank Barrier

Profile: Baqa Sharqiya Enclave & Qafin

Until February 2004, Baqa Sharqiya, Nazlet Issa and Nazlet Abu Nar formed an enclave surrounded by concrete slabs in the residential areas of Nazlet Issa and razor wire in the agricultural areas of Baqa Sharqiya and Nazlet Abu Nar. Since then, the razor wire that isolated the three villages from the rest of the West Bank has been removed. The barrier section that separates Nazlet Issa from Baqa Gharbiya in Israel has been completed. The ‘GreenLline’ checkpoint has been replaced by an IDF-manned gate. The impact of these changes is being assessed by UNRWA teams in the field and will be updated shortly.

This enclave consists of the villages of Baqa Sharqiya, Nazlet Issa and Nazlet Abu Nar. Surrounded by the barrier on all sides - concrete slabs in the residential areas of Nazlet Issa, and razor wire in the agricultural areas of Baqa Sharqiya and Nazlet Abu Nar. Baqa Sharqiya is now physically separated from Baqa Gharbiya on the Israeli side of the Green Line, with which it has close social and economic ties. Qafin is located outside the Baqa enclave, but because 70% of its land is now located within the enclave, it is included in this profile. Ha’aretz reports (30/12/03) that, while the western barrier around Baqa will remain, the Israeli authorities are planning to remove the eastern barrier: i.e. Baqa will no longer be an enclave.

Access/ Permits/Gate issues

Gates:

There are three entrances to the enclave:

• Gate on the Attil road, south of the enclave.

• Gate on Qafin road, northeast of the enclave.

• The ‘green line’ checkpoint, west of the enclave. The checkpoint can only be used by settlers crossing the enclave en route to Khermesh. The checkpoint was removed in mid-November and it is not clear whether it will be replaced by a gate or concrete slabs.

• Qafin is outside the enclave. A checkpoint lies outside the village.

Permits:

• The Israeli authorities do not consider the Baqa enclave to lie within the ‘seam zone’ and residents not require permits to reside in, or access, the area.

• Non enclave residents, including landowners, are required to have permits to enter and work in the enclave. A total of 849 landowners have obtained such permits. Most are from Qafin, northeast of the enclave, but also from Attil, Illar and Zeita. The validity of permits varies from 12 days to two months. However, recent reports suggest that permits for landowners from Qafin are not being renewed because ‘the olive season is over’ (Qafin farmers own some 120,000 olive trees, the majority of which are inside the Qafin enclave).

• Teachers who come from outside the enclave (96) have been asked to apply for permits, resulting in long delays at the gates. Female teachers have reported humiliating searches at the gates by female soldiers.

Health

• The closest hospital is in Tulkarm (13 kilometres away), accessible through gate on Atil road.

• There are Palestinian Authority (PA) mother and child health (MCH) centres, in Baqa Sharqiya and Nazlet Issa. According to the Baqa Sharqiya mayor, the clinic it is only 30 percent operational, under-equipped and under-staffed. Because of access difficulties at the gate, the MCH in Nazlet Issa is often staffed only by a midwife (from Nazlet Issa). There are no specialised medical services in the enclave.

• In December 2003, the clinic in Baqa Sharqiya was only open for three days because the PA medical team was not allowed through the gate.

• UNRWA mobile clinic visits the enclave several times a month (has separate days for Baqa Sharqiya and Nazlet Issa. In both cases uses the municipality buildings).

• In the enclave, the vaccination campaign has still not taken place because the medical team has not been allowed in.

• In Qafin there is one PA clinic (MCH and dentist) which treats 90 patients per day, and several private doctors who charge between NIS 30-50.. Qafin is the most northerly of Tulkarm’s 35 towns and villages and the medical team who visit from Tulkarm town face severe movement restrictions.

Education

• Some 80 percent of the enclave’s teachers come from outside. Since the beginning of the academic year, 20 school days have been lost (school was open but teachers could not enter the enclave; students returned home). The municipality is organizing remedial classes with the aid of retired teachers from the enclave.

• All students who used to come from outside the enclave have relocated to schools outside (leading to a decrease in student population of 20 percent).

• In Qafin there are 2,500 students, and 125 teachers. Fifty percent of the teachers are from outside the village. Only teachers who come from Baqa Sharqiya and Nazlet Issa face problems at the gate. Sixty students are from outside the village, but do not face access problems.

Socio-Economic issues

General:

• There are 200 registered shops in Qafin. 80 percent have closed since completion of the barrier and after the demolition of shops in Nazlet Issa. Others have changed to lower-cost, lower-income business.

• All but one factory has closed. Five small sowing factories that used to employ 75 women have closed or moved to areas outside the enclave (e.g. Qafin).

• 209 shops in Nazlet Issa have been destroyed by the IDF since 2002 in barrier-related demolitions.

• Commercial trucks are not allowed into the enclave. Goods entering through the gates are restricted by soldiers to ‘household consumption’ quantities only. As a result, traders need many more trips to bring in merchandise; this has increased transportation costs and diminished their gains. Shopkeepers are having difficulty in restocking their shops.

• Prior to the intifada, Qafin’s main source of income was daily-paid labour in Israel, not being an agricultural land (except for olives). At least 2000 workers crossed daily to Israel, earning a total of NIS 200,000 a day (domestic income). Now the unemployment rate is estimated at 80%, aggravated by the loss of land in the enclave.

Agriculture:

• The enclave used to send most of its produce to the West Bank and Israel, now it has to import fruit, vegetables and basic commodities.

• One well belonging to the enclave now lies outside its ‘borders’.

• Many landowners reside outside the enclave; others from the enclave itself own land outside. Both face difficulties in bringing workers to work their land because of gates and permit system. Agricultural work used to be the only source of livelihood for at least 50 families from outside the enclave. Because agricultural workers cannot enter the enclave, many greenhouses are starting to decay.

• Qafin has lost 6,000 dunums (70% of its land) to the seam zone (an estimated 120,000 olive trees). 10,000 olive trees have been cut or uprooted for the construction of the wall and its ‘patrol road’. Six hundred families have lost their only source of livelihood as a result.

• Subcontracting ( mouzara’a) is a common practice among landowners and agricultural workers, where a worker will farm the land in exchange for a share of the produce. Alternatively, the landowner can ask for a fixed-income, while the worker gets the rest of the profit (daman). Many landowners said they would have to revert to this system if they were not given permits to access their lands.

Social:

• Separation of the enclave from Baqa Gharbiye will disrupt family and social ties: at least 75 couples in the enclave have partners from either ‘Baqa’.

• 600 couples from Qafin have partners from one of the neighbouring enclaves (Baqa Sharqiya or Bartaa). Many have chosen to change their addresses to Baqa Sharqiya, Nazlet Issa or Bartaa, for fear of not being able to see their families. Reportedly, the number of people registered in Baqa Sharqiya has gone from the officially recognised figure of 3,000 up to 7,000. The same ‘artificial’ rise in registered families applies to Nazlet Issa, Nazlet Abu Nar and Bartaa.

Enclave Data