OCHA Weekly Briefing Notes – OPT (23 – 29 June 2004) – OCHA report

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OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS

P.O. Box 38712 East Jerusalem

Phone: (972) 2 – 5829962 / 5825853, Fax: (972) 2 – 5825841

ochaopt@un.org, www.ochaopt.org

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OCHA Weekly Briefing Notes

Update for oPt (23 – 29 June 2004)

INSIDEINSIDE:   Casualties — Incidents involving ambulances — Curfew — House demolition/Demolition orders/People displaced — Land levelling/confiscation — Checkpoints/roadblocks/Barrier/restrictions on movement — Education — Labour movement to Israel — Other —  Appendix

1.  Casualties

Palestinians:18 deaths, 148 injured
Israelis:  3 deaths (Two in Sderot), 10 injured

Sources:  OCHA FCU, PRCS, UNRWA, IDF website, Israeli MoFA

2. Incidents involving ambulances and medical teams

• 26 June: An UPMRC ambulance was delayed for two hours in the old city of Nablus while trying to evacuate injured Palestinians from the city.

• 26 June: A PRCS ambulance en route to evacuate Palestinian anti-Barrier demonstrators injured in confrontations with IDF in Al Ram was stopped and denied access at the Al Ram junction. While waiting for permission to pass, a tear gas grenade was fired from the Al Ram checkpoint penetrating the rear windshield of the ambulance causing a fire to break out. The PRCS medics were forced to evacuate and were transported to hospital due to gas inhalation

Sources:  PRCS/UPMRC

3. Curfews

Curfews were reported in the following locations:

4. House demolitions/Demolition Orders/People Displaced

• 25 June: IDF demolished a flat in a six storey building in Bethlehem city (As Saff area) belonging to a Palestinian who was arrested two months ago. Due to the explosion, a second flat was damaged completely and a third one was partially damaged. ICRC delivered tents and food items to the two families that were made homeless.

• 28 June: IDF demolished two shops at the junction of Idhna with the bypass road 35, Hebron district.

5. Land levelling/confiscation¹

West Bank:

• 27 June: Land levelling took place around Zaatara (Tappuah) check point.

• 23 June: Levelling of land for the construction of the Separation Barrier started in the northern part of ‘Anata. Some 300m have so far been levelled.

• 26 June:The Israeli High Court of Justice decided to suspend the ongoing preparation for the planned barrier construction around Ariel and Az Zawiya in Salfit district.

Gaza:

• 23 June: bulldozers uprooted 250 dunums of citrus trees in Bait Hanoun.

• 24 June: 70 dunums of citrus trees were uprooted north east of Beit Hanoun. Three hen pens and water wells were also destroyed.

• 25 June: 14 dunums of agricultural land were destroyed along with 18 greenhouses in Orayba area in Khan Younis.

• 28 June: IDF bulldozers temporarily erected 2 large sand mounds on the coastal road, at a point parallel to Netzarim settlement, thereby blocking the road

Sources: OCHA FCU

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¹ 4 dunums = 1 acre

6. Closure²/Restrictions on movement

Tulkarm/Qalqiliya governorates:

• Ministry of Health has reported major delays at Azzun Atma for their medical teams, whose access through the gate have had to be coordinated in advance with IDF through the Palestinian DCL.

• Movement from Tulkarem town to the surrounding governorates of Nablus, Ramallah and Qalqilya has eased after the reopening of ‘Anabta gate although permits are still required for each individual vehicle and public transport vehicles.

• 28 June: the Ministry of Health launched an emergency measles vaccination programme in cooperation with UNICEF for all children in the age group 9 months to 5 years. The programme has been launched successfully and UNICEF has reported on no access problems for the medical teams through checkpoints and barrier gates. The programme will run for two weeks.

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²For a reference West Bank checkpoint map please see the following link:  http://www.reliefweb.int/hic-opt/maps/Closure/mar/checkpoints march 04.pdf

Nablus/Jenin/Tubas governorates:

• An IDF announced lifting of closures at Till (Nablus SW) was still not implemented. Levelling and construction work of an apparent check point at Al Badhan (Nablus NE) continued during the week while a limited number of pedestrians were being let through.

Ramallah/al-Bireh/Beituniya governorates:

• 24 June: After the IDF gave permission to the Palestinian Ministry of Works to pave the dirt road from Kafr Ni’ma to Ras Karkar to ease access problems in that area, the Israeli DCL informed the Palestinian DCL that construction had to stop claiming that a Molotov cocktail had been thrown at a military jeep in the area.

• 24/26 June: An elderly Palestinian man collapsed while waiting in a taxi at the Atara [partial] checkpoint during late afternoon rush hour. An Israeli ambulance arrived to take the old man to hospital since Palestinian ambulances were unable to access the area due to the traffic congestion and chaos around the checkpoint. On 26 June, during the morning rush hour, commuters at Atara [partial] checkpoint had to get out of vehicles and walk across the due to excessively long delays while the IDF searched vehicles and checked IDs.

• Silwad residents continued to be prohibited from travelling to Jordan.

Jerusalem/Jericho governorates:

• The Wadi Nar checkpoint, the main one between south and north West Bank, continues to be difficult, with Palestinians waiting up to several hours before being allowed to cross.

Jerusalem Envelope Barrier:

• EAST:  Construction of the Barrier is continuing An Nu'man, Ash Sheikh Sa'ad, Sur Baher, Sawahriya ash Sharqiya, Abu Dis and Al 'Eizariya

• NORTHWEST: Construction of the Barrier is continuing in Biddu, Beit Duqqu, Bet Ijza, Al Qubeiba, Qatanna and Kharayib Umm Al Lahim.  A decision from the Israeli Supreme Court on the issue of the Barrier in these areas will be taken on 30 June.

• NORTH:  The road from Qalandiya CP to 150 north of  Al Ram CP was opened for traffic from south to north and only on the eastern lane.  In the middle of the road, preparations have been made for the erection of some 4.5m high concrete wall slabs.  Entrances leading to neighbourhoods on the western side of the road are blocked by roadblocks.  Only the main entrance to Bir Nabla was left open.  A round-about has been installed just south of Qalandiya CP, facilitating traffic from Ar Ram to Road 45, either direction east towards Jaba', or direction west, where a new segment of Road 45 has been asphalted, towards Atarot as well as towards Road 404 and the Bir Nabala CP. This is now one of two options Palestinian residents from Ar Ram/Dahiyat al Bareed wanting to go to Jerusalem can take. The other one is to go east at the round-a-bout towards Jaba’ and then to Hizma CP. The Israeli Supreme Court decided on 28 June to extend the injunction order against Barrier construction in the area.

Bethlehem/Hebron governorates:

The number of valid permits for Hebron National Bus Company was 34, of which 26 for public transport between Hebron and Bethlehem, and 8 for movement between Hebron and Jericho. On 25 and 26 June buses could not move in or out of Hebron because IDF closed the gates on Halhul Bridge. Buses were prevented to enter Bethlehem through Beit Jala DCO checkpoint.

• 25 – 26 June: IDF closed the bridge between Hebron city and Halhul, Hebron district, preventing the movement of Palestinians between the two cities and restricted access of humanitarian organizations and Palestinians with permits to Ras Al Jura checkpoint.

• 25 – 26 June: IDF closed the gate into Halhul at Sa'ir Halhul junction, Hebron district, restricting movement of Palestinians in or out of the city and between the two districts.

The enclosed areas in Gaza:

As-Seafa: Movement remains restricted by the IDF with the entry-exit gate opening twice daily for As-Seafa ID holders from 06:30 to 08:30 and 14:00 to 16:30. Motor vehicles are not allowed to enter since November 2000, with the exception of international agencies that have undertaken prior coordination with the IDF. Since 17 April 2004, As-Seafa gate was closed; with new movement restrictions imposed. Since 22 April IDF is allowing 3-4 people to go in and out, for one time only with prior coordination in order to bring food in.

• Since 03 June, nobody aged below 30 is permitted to enter or leave.

Al-Mawassi: Movement remains restricted by the IDF with the entry-exit gate opening twice daily for As-Seafa ID holders from 06:30 to 08:30 and 14:00 to 16:30. Motor vehicles are not allowed to enter since November 2000, with the exception of international agencies that have undertaken prior coordination with the IDF. Since 17 April 2004, As-Seafa gate was closed; with new movement restrictions imposed. Since 22 April 2004 IDF is allowing 3-4 people to go in and out, for one time only with prior coordination in order to bring food in.

• Since 03 June, nobody aged below 30 is permitted to enter or leave.

• 28 June 2004, As-Seafa checkpoint was completely closed.

• Since 23 June 2004, no entry into Al Mawassi is permitted, however people are allowed to leave

• 28 June, Tuffah checkpoint was completely closed.

• Tal As-Sultan checkpoint closed all the week.

Kfar Darom. The Palestinian area adjacent to Kfar Darom settlement was declared a Closed Military Zone following a suicide attack on 27 February 2004. Since 20 July 2002 no vehicular movement has been allowed as the IDF erected a fence around the area. Movement restricted by the IDF with the entry-exit gate opening four times daily for Al Maa’ni ID holders only from 06:30 to 07:30, 10:30 to 11:30, 13:00 to 14:00 and 16:00 to 17:00.

Source OCHA FCUs, UNSCO and UNRWA

7.    Education

Nablus/Jenin/Tubas:

• A number of school children were not able to make the Tawjeehi exams due to the curfew in the old city. An alternative date is to be set by the MoE.

Sources: OCHA FCU, UNICEF, UNRWA

8.   Labour movement to Israel

West Bank:

Tulkarm/Qalqilya/Salfit:

• No new work or trader permits have been issued over the course of the week. The portion for trader permits currently stands at 1070 for Tulkarem, 600 for Qalqilya and 300 for Salfit.

Jerusalem/Jericho:

• No working permits have been issued to Jericho for the period mid May to mid June.

• The total quota number for commercial trade permits to the municipality is 300. This month – from May 09 to 08 June – a total number of 91 out of a request for 110 permits were approved.

Gaza:

• A total of 541 permits have been issued for workers and 343 permits for traders aged 35 and above. However, some few hundreds were allowed to enter. As of 28 June 2004, workers in both Israel and the industrial estate are not permitted to enter due to newly-declared closure.

9.  Other:

• 24-26 June: IDF entered the old city of Nablus as several entrances were closed by earth mounds and barbed wire. A curfew was imposed on the old city lasting for the major part of the operation that saw seven Palestinians killed and five wounded.

• 28 June: IDF entered Al Yamun village west of Jenin imposing a curfew on the village. Several houses in the village were searched and and water cisterns were reported damaged when IDF used explosives in order to search them.

• During the week: A Bedouin society located between An Nabi Samuel and Biddu has during this last week not received any water since the pipeline they depended on has been cut off due to the Barrier construction in Biddu area.

• 26-27 June: Border Police at Al Ram fired tear gas grenades and rubber coated metal bullets against Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals demonstrating against the Separation Barrier. Approx. 100 people were injured.

• 27 June, One IDF soldier was killed and five injured in an explosion set off from a tunnel located under an IDF base at the southern point of Abu Houli checkpoint.

• 28 June, 2 helicopter missiles were fired at a workshop on the edge of Nuseirat Camp in the Gaza middle area

• 28 June, in Gaza city 4 rockets were fired at a press office in the Shawa building on Wahda St in the centre of the Gaza city.

• Immediately after the attack against the IDF base (27.June), IDF announced the closure of all internal and external crossings and checkpoints in the Gaza strip.

• 28 June, two Israelis, including a four-year-old boy, were killed and nine others injured when two home made rockets were fired from Beit Lahia towards Sderot.

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