Country strategy for development cooperation with the West Bank and Gaza (March-Dec 2005) – Report by Sweden/Non-Un document

Country strategy for development cooperation with the West Bank and Gaza – March – December 2005

1. Introduction

The time frame for this country strategy is one year. The strategy should then be reviewed annually, taking into account the outcome and the situation at the time. Nevertheless, the development cooperation effort may include projects and programmes with a longer time frame. The strategy is therefore worded in such a way that it can be used over several years should the situation in the area permit this. In that event, the strategy is to be renewed annually.

2. Summary of the country analysis

The Occupied Palestinian Territories or OPT (1) – the West Bank and Gaza plus eastern Jerusalem – have a population of 3.5 million Palestinians living on a land area of 26,000 km2. Half of the population are under 18 years of age. Palestinian society has a comparatively well-educated middle class and an active civil society. Since 2000, a Palestinian uprising, known as the second intifada, has been in progress in response to the failure of the peace process and in protest against Israeli occupation.

Previously, material poverty in the OPT was on a par with that of medium-income countries. In terms of a multidimensional concept of poverty, problems in the area have largely concerned people's lack of control over their lives due to the occupation, uncertainty over the territories' governance, and so on. From a rights perspective, there have been major shortcomings in this connection. Over the past 4-5 years, material poverty has increased very rapidly. The number of inhabitants below the poverty line (USD 2.1 per day) has increased from 650,000 in 2000 to 1.9 million in 2004, i.e. from just over 20 per cent to just over 50 per cent of the population. In recent years, social indicators show a decline from a relatively satisfactory position: greater malnutrition among children, less access to education and healthcare, etc. In other words, development in the area is the opposite of that foreseen in the Millennium Goals. Today, it seems doubtful that any of these goals will be achieved (in the case of some, including HIV/Aids development, no information is available).

Both material poverty and other kinds of poverty may be attributed to the current conflict and to the continuing Israeli occupation of the OPT, which began in 1967. Only an end to the occupation can lead to lasting improvements of benefit for the whole region. Since the beginning of the intifada, the conflict has been characterised by acts of violence, growing mistrust between the two sides and the absence of a political process.

The Palestinian change of president has led to significant efforts on the part of the international community to revive the political process and bring the parties back to the negotiating table. The EU member states are agreed on the need to continue efforts to resolve the conflict by introducing a two-state solution in accordance with the principles laid down in the 'Quartet Roadmap' (2) for Middle East peace.

International assistance to the OPT is being provided in an extremely complex and politicised situation. Since April 2002, Israel has in practice reoccupied the areas transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) under the Oslo agreement between Israel and the PLO. Israeli roadblocks and the separation barrier (3) erected deep inside the occupied territories make it difficult for Palestinians to move not only between the OPT and Israel but also within and between Palestinian areas on the West Bank and in Gaza. The Israeli settlements and their segregating structures in the OPT add to the fragmentation of the Palestinian areas, which are now enclosed in enclaves and are constantly shrinking through land confiscation as the settlements and their road networks expand. In addition, the Palestinians' crops, irrigation systems and water and electricity supplies are being deliberately destroyed.

The Palestinian administration is often referred to as the Palestinian Authority but is in fact a generic term for all the various functions created or taken over as a result of the Oslo agreement. The term encompasses both the central government administration (corresponding to the Swedish government offices, ministries and agencies) and the various local administrative units (regional and municipal departments responsible for healthcare, education, water and sanitation, etc). Below, the term PA is used when more comprehensive descriptions or assessments are required.

The legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority among the population has to some extent been weakened by its inability to meet people's basic needs, but also by its failure to maintain the internal democratisation process. Following the death of President Arafat on 11 November 2004, a new situation has arisen. On 9 January 2005, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) was elected president in his stead. The general view is that the election was carried out in a correct manner. A first round of voting in local government elections has also taken place and will be completed this summer. Parliamentary elections are also scheduled for this summer. Once these have taken place, a new Palestinian leadership enjoying democratic legitimacy will be available to tackle the task of reviving the peace process.

Hitherto, Palestinian society has been burdened by widespread corruption. Between 2003 and 2004, the PA fell from 82nd to 108th place in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI) showing how business people, professionals and risk analysts perceive the state of affairs in each country at both the administrative and political level. This means that in 2004 the PA was on a par with many of the Least Developed Countries in which Sida works and where corruption propensity is deemed to be on the increase. Corruption has occurred both at the political level and in various administrative areas, as well as in civil society. The PA's ambiguous and to some extent temporary status, along with the direct damage inflicted on the administrative structure (in both physical and staff terms) as a result of the conflict, has made the building of a sound administration with regulatory duties more difficult. In addition, there has often been a pronounced lack of political will. In recent years, the central economic administration has been significantly reformed under the guidance of the Ministry of Finance and with the active support of the World Bank and the IMF. Budget transparency has increased and control mechanisms have been improved. The risk of corruption remains high, despite the statements of the new president about the need to act against corruption and abuses of power.

Thus, after pressure from outside, not least the imposition of conditions for providing budgetary assistance, some progress has been made as regards reforming the PA, particularly in policy areas dealt with by the Ministry of Finance. Further reforms are needed, however, particularly in the judicial system, in order to create a credible base for a future Palestinian state. The Palestinian police bodies have been shattered by the Israeli military and are incapable of performing their basic crime-prevention duties. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Israelis are required to protect the Palestinian civilian population for as long as the occupation lasts. Israel, however, does not accept that the Geneva Convention applies to the OPT, de jure, choosing instead a selective de facto application of the provisions, which means the principle requiring the Israelis to protect Palestinian civilians is not fully implemented.

Prior to the outbreak of the latest intifada, the Palestinian economy was to a great extent (20 per cent) dependent on wage payments from Israeli employers to Palestinian workers commuting to Israel from the OPT on a daily basis. These wage payments helped maintain the demand for goods and services in the Palestinian economy. Over 70 per cent of these guest workers have since lost their jobs. A similar trend is apparent among those Palestinians who used to perform subcontract work for Israeli companies. As a result, women are having to assume an increasingly heavy financial burden. Many already had extensive responsibility for the family and household and now have an additional one – as breadwinners. Women are over-represented among those hardest hit by the deterioration in the economy.

Economic collapse in the OPT has also led to changes in social structures that will have a profound effect on Palestinian society and its ability to readjust to a life in peace. Men who lose their jobs spend more time at home while at the same time their mental condition is adversely affected by violence, inactivity and humiliation. When the situation worsens and individuals are humiliated by the occupation, one's own family is the last place where one can exercise control and power. Also, those men who have been disabled or killed were often the breadwinners in the family. So the womenfolk are having to spend precious time caring for sick or injured members of the family while at the same time their financial situation is deteriorating. Women are finding it increasingly difficult to claim their rights.

During the re-occupation, Israeli violence has forced its way into people's homes: there are repeated house searches, homes are used as temporary military postings and homes are torn down. When the military enter the private sphere, women have been subjected to direct violence and humiliation to a greater extent than before. Exposed to this kind of stress, women have begun to feel increasingly inadequate, and say they are more liable to behave violently towards their own children than they used to be.

Many unemployed Palestinians have tried to go into business on their own or have gone back to farming, but both the low level of demand in the Palestinian economy and the Israeli blockades present significant obstacles to private sector development. In 1997, the PA and the EU signed an Interim Association Agreement, providing for such things as lower tariffs, with a view to fostering social and economic development in the OPT by liberalising trade. Access to and participation in international trade is an important means of escaping recession. For various reasons – including the blockades in the OPT – Palestinian exports to the EU have been very limited and are likely to remain so until the political situation improves.

Footnotes: 

(1) The abbreviation used in the British parliamentary report, 'Analysis of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, House of Commons Feb 2004', on which Sida's country analysis is based.

(2) The Quartet – the US, Russia, the EU and the UN – presented a performance-based roadmap in April 2003 calling for a permanent two-state solution to the conflict.

(3) The International Court of Justice in the Hague uses the term 'wall' throughout to describe the complex structure being erected by the Israelis on the West Bank. Sweden has chosen to use the term 'separation barrier'.

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