The West Bank Barrier

Profile: Qalqilya town update July 2004

Qalqilya town is surrounded on all sides by the Barrier. To the west is an eight- metre-high wall and observation tower system. A fence complex, which includes patrol roads, trace paths and trenches encircles the city from the north, south and east. The sole entrance to the city is through the military checkpoint. An underground tunnel is currently being built under the settler bypass road, Route 55, to link Qalqilya to Hable village.

Qalqilya has 43,000 residents of whom more than 35,000 are registered refugees. Ann additional 45,000 live in 32 villages in the Qalqilya governorate, and depend on the town for economic, social, and municipal services, including the UNRWA hospital. Before the intifada 6,000 workers from Qalqilya town went to Israel daily and forty-two joint business ventures were set up between the town and towns and Israeli towns: these have now ceased.

Qalqilya lost about 28,000 dunums of land in 1948, leaving 9,400 dunums, approximately 3,500 dunums of developed, urban land with an additional 5,900 dunums of agricultural land surrounding the city. Of this, 4,878 dunums – over 80 percent - are either under or isolated by the Barrier, mostly irrigated land with fruit, vegetables and greenhouses. Over 1,500 families are affected: sixty-two percent depend on agriculture in Qalqilya compared to 24 percent in the rest of the West Bank. Qalqilya lies on the Western Aquifer Basin, one of the largest sources of ground water the West Bank. Eleven wells are isolated by the Barrier or in the buffer zone, representing 32% of the town’s water supply.

Since the beginning of the intifada, severe restrictions on movement have been placed on all residents. There is already an exodus of residents, especially business people, to Israel, local villages and to the Gulf. Unemployment now stands at 76 percent compared to 20 percent before the intifada. At the end of December 2003, the IDF removed its continuous military presence from the checkpoint, although this is regularly reactivated, especially when closure is reimposed on the West Bank. It is still difficult for residents of surrounding villages to reach Qalqilya, as they are often turned back by soldiers on the mobile checkpoints posted on the major routes.

Access/ Permits/Gate issues

GATES

• There are five gates and one occasionally manned checkpoint for movement in and out of Qalqilya. There is another Gate (Zufin) northeast of Qalqilya (between route 55 and 444) that Palestinian farmers with permits have been allowed to use in the last six months.

• The official opening for Gate 28 in the north was 0530-0545, 1200-1215, 1600-1650 hours. In general farmers avoided the early crossing for security reasons and crossed at 1200, leaving only four hours time for work before the last gate closing. Since 25 September the gate has been closed.

• The Qalqilya Hable gate (Gate 30) was officially open for farmers, doctors and school teachers from 0700-0800, 1200-1300 and 1600-1700 hours. Although the gate hours were not adhered to regularly from September-November 2003, the IDF has been following the posted hours of late.

• The Northern Gate, on the Green Line, is used by the IDF only.

• With the closure in late September of the two gates used by a majority of the farmers, access in and out of Qalqilya has been through the checkpoint which was continuously manned until 26 December 2003. However, tractors, and farm equipment are not allowed to pass through this checkpoint. The IDF closed the checkpoint from 8 until 27 October: only teachers, medical staff, and UNRWA staff were generally, but not always, allowed to cross. Some university students were also allowed to cross during this period. During the October closure, the back-to-back system (unloading and reloading of goods across the checkpoint to another vehicle) was only operational for food commodities. Any items deemed non-essential were not allowed to enter. Now that the checkpoint is generally unmanned vehicles can pass directly into Qalqilya.

• Hable-Qalqilya, which used to be a short two kilometre distance, can now take up to 30 kilometres because of the Barrier. The Israeli authorities are currently constructing a tunnel under route 55 to re-connect the localities.

PERMITS

• Over fifteen hundred (1,556) farming families have had their land isolated by the Barrier. Permits have been issued to some family members and not to others. Four hundred permits have been issued to individuals, of these 100 are persons who are either deceased or out of the country. In one case a 78-year-old man was denied a permit for ‘security’ reasons while his wife was issued a permit. Some of the permits are issued for gates that are now closed. Agricultural labours are generally not eligible for permits; very few exceptions have been made.

• The process for obtaining permits has become progressively more onerous for landowners. The Israeli authorities are requiring more documentation including proof of ownership and certification of residency by the Palestinian municipal authority. In January 2004, one Qalqilya landowner had to make eight separate trips to the Israeli District Liaison office, and almost as many to Palestinian offices to obtain and submit the necessary documentation to apply for a permit.

HEALTH

Qalqilya Hospital

• Palestinian refugees in the West Bank in need of secondary health care are referred either to UNRWA’s hospital in Qalqilya or to one of the 11 other hospitals where UNRWA contracts services on their behalf. The hospital in Qalqilya comprises 63 beds and offers emergency, internal medicine, gynaecology and obstetrics, and paediatric care. The hospital also includes a laboratory, where 73,605 tests were carried out in 2002. Services not available (but provided in Nablus) include an Intensive Care Unit, dialysis treatment, and chemotherapy, treatment for Thallessaemia and sickle cell anaemia, orthopaedic and burn treatment. Radiation treatment is not available anywhere in the West Bank.

• Prior to the intifada, the hospital provided care to a large number of refugees in the northern West Bank, and the bed occupancy rate was 67.5 per cent. In 2003 as a result of restrictions on movement and the construction of the Barrier, this rate has fallen, to an average of 39 percent for the year. The number of patients from outside the city has declined from 38.6 per cent to 16.7 per cent and the number of surgical procedures performed has fallen from 1,154 to 305 a year. In July 2003, UNRWA instituted a policy of using UNRWA ambulances to transfer ‘cold’ cases from the northern regions – Nablus, Tulkarm, Jordan Valley – to the hospital, and occupancy rates started increasing progressively; in March 2004 the hospital recorded an occupancy rate of 51%.

• Increased poverty among the residents of Qalqilya has resulted in many unable to afford private care or the health insurance needed for the Palestinian Authority hospital. The number of ‘community poor’ non-refugees being cared for in the hospital has risen from 5.8 per cent of all patients to 18.8 per cent. UNRWA and the Municipality of Qalqilya have agreed that the UNRWA hospital will admit non-refugee patients who are indigent, in exchange for a reduction in utility bills. Approximately 30 per cent of the UNRWA hospital’s staff resides outside Qalqilya and the encirclement of the city by the Barrier has affected them the most. These staff members now live in Qalqilya and return home once a week.

• The UNRWA hospital director has observed an increase in poverty-related disease, anaemia in children, (about 50% in 2003) and reports that child weights are lower than expected. He has also observed an increase in stress related diseases (diabetics, coronary heart disease, mental disease, hypertension, depression).

EDUCATION

• Although all students from UNRWA schools are from Qalqilya itself, twenty percent of teachers from UNRWA schools reside outside town. The month of October 2003 was particularly difficult due to the tight closures. Teachers were delayed, and on occasions denied access. All teachers are reporting a significant increase in time and expenses in reaching school since the beginning of the intifada (See attached table). Two teachers have taken up temporary residence in Qalqilya. A teacher from the Basic Girls’ School had been given a temporary transfer to a government school in Hable. Before the transfer she had spent many hours trying to cross the two gates between Hable and Qalqilya, a distance of less than a kilometre and was often late or unable to reach the school. In the first three weeks of October she had 10 absences due to inconsistency in the opening time of the gates or the closure of the gates. The teacher has returned to her teaching duties at the Qalqilya Girls’ School now that the checkpoint is generally unmanned.

• The Al Quds Open University has a campus in Qalqilya with 50 teachers and 1,400 students. Thirty teachers and 50 percent of the students are from outside Qalqilya and face difficulty reaching campus. On 14 and 15 December when the DCO checkpoint was closed, 50 percent of students were absent. The University does not keep a detailed inventory of student absences, but confirmed many lost days due to both student and teachers absence. The University has adapted by using ‘correspondence’ techniques – phone, internet between teacher and student. On occasion, the University has rented a hall in the village in Azun to permit students prevented from entering to Qalqilya to take their exams. Twenty-two professors from An-Najah University in Nablus return home to Qalqilya only once a week due to movement restrictions: previously, the 32-kilometre trip between Qalqilya and Nablus took about 25 minutes.

• In general very few teachers in the Government schools are from outside the town; therefore, there is minimal disruption due to the checkpoints and gates. A government school is located just metres from the Barrier. Initially, it was intended to be a boys’ school but under pressure from the Israeli authorities the Palestinian Ministry of Education changed it to a girls’ school. However, according to education officials, due to the proximately of the school to the wall, it is subject to tear-gassing by the IDF. In January 2004, 27 girls had to be taken to the hospital due to tear gas inhalation.

• Due to the increased level of poverty and increased unemployment, some children are leaving school to earn a living though the selling of fruit and vegetables.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC ISSUES

• Because of the proximity of Qalqilya to the Green Line large numbers of Israelis, particularly Israeli Arabs, used to shop there. Since the intifada trade has declined and the town’s shops, restaurants and other service providers have been adversely affected. According the Mayor, as a result of closures and the Barrier, 4,000 people have left Qalqilya and over 30 percent of the businesses have closed (600 businesses out of a total of 1,800). Some have migrated to surrounding villages and others have left the country. Unemployment has risen from 18 percent in 2000 to 65 percent in 2003.

• Business owners from other West Bank villages are often denied access to Qalqilya on their return. In one case, a businessman, who travelled to his hometown near Tubas was denied access to Qalqilya over a two-month period, despite providing papers from the municipality confirming that he had a business in Qalqilya. Although finally granted re-entry his business remained closed for the period of his enforced exile.

• The strict closures and curfews on Qalqilya town have resulted in the loss of a significant portion of the citrus crop. This in turn has had a severe impact on the honey producing business in the area as the bees would feed on the crops to produce the honey. With the closure and restrictions imposed on Qalqilya farmers, there has been a progressive ‘drying’ of the land as farmers cannot access their wells to irrigate their land. Between 2000 and 2003 there was a 41 percent drop in the amount of water drawn from wells to irrigate the land. The farmers require a yearly license from the civil administration to pump water from the wells. Farmers are changing the type of crops they are planting on their land, for example to wheat as it does not require daily cultivation or irrigation. These are generally lower revenue crops.

• Farmers owning land beyond the Barrier face particular problems. Mr. Jalal Zeid, an UNRWA registered refugee, who operates the largest poultry farm in the West Bank has his farm isolated outside the Northern Gate (28). As this has remained closed since September 25, his labourers have experienced severe access problems. In October, he lost 7,000 chickens and 180,000 eggs, as neither he nor his workers were allowed to get to the farm to provide water and feed or to turn on the air conditioning. About 60 days previously, he had a fire on his farm, and the Qalqilya fire engines were delayed for two and a half hours at the military checkpoint before being allowed to cross. Due to the international media attention this farm received as a result of his loses, he has been able to obtain permits for the 14 labourers who work on his farm. The Israeli authorities provide one month permits which Mr. Zeid needs to renew constantly. In early March 2004, in order to renew the permits of four of his workers, Mr. Zeid went to Qedummim DCL six times. On his sixth visit he was at the DCL for eight hours, and only obtained the permits after a lengthy argument with an officer.

• Another UNRWA registered refugee, Mr. Ata Ata, owns 10 dunums of land which is isolated next to the Southern Gate 29 (Jaljoulia). He operated a nursery on four dunums of this land not been able to use the gate to access his land and his greenhouse are unattended. In October 2000, just after the start of the intifada, the IDF, citing ‘security’ reasons demolished three quarters of his greenhouses, leaving greenhouses on just one dunum.

Qalqilya Boys and Girls School:
Access for Teachers who reside outside of Qalqilya