OCHA Humanitarian Bulletin for Occupied Palestinian Territory: Jan. – May 2021

Arabic: العربية

Palestinians strive to access water in the Jordan Valley

This article was contributed by the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster and its partners

“We used to buy tankered water at an extremely high price, but now it’s hard to even find anyone to bring us water out of fear that soldiers could confiscate the truck,” according to Salem, a 45-year-old father of five.

Salem is a resident of the Palestinian community of Humsa – Al Baqai’a, located in Area C in the northern Jordan Valley. The community is located mostly in an area designated as a ‘firing zone’ for Israeli military training, where Palestinian residency and access is prohibited by the Israeli authorities. On numerous occasions since 2012, the residents of Humsa – Al Baqai’a have been temporarily displaced by the Israeli authorities while they carried out military trainings in the vicinity. OCHA has recorded over 50 such incidents during this period.

In addition, since 3 November 2020, on six separate occasions, the Israeli authorities have displaced most of the community by demolishing and confiscating their homes and other structures. Most recently on 22 February this year, the Israeli authorities confiscated 18 residential and animal structures in addition to food parcels, unassembled structures, and water tanks. Most of these items had been provided as humanitarian response, following similar incidents that occurred on 1, 3, 8 and 16 February, during which 64 structures were demolished or confiscated, leaving some 60 people, including 35 children displaced. In a statement issued on 24 February, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the oPt, Lynn Hastings, called on the Israeli authorities to “immediately halt all further demolitions of Palestinian homes and possessions, allow the humanitarian community to provide shelter, food and water to this most vulnerable group and these people to remain in their homes.”

The community is not connected to any water or sewer networks and has no access to solid waste collection services. Consequently, residents have to buy water through private vendors at NIS40 (about US$12) per cubic metre, eight times the average price of water for Palestinians in the West Bank.[1] They also have to share latrines among several households and burn solid waste. After the November 2020 mass-demolition, the humanitarian community provided them with 20 water tanks, to address some of their water needs. Those were confiscated by the Israeli authorities on 22 February. Since then, private vendors have been reluctant to bring water to the community out of fear that their trucks might also be confiscated by the Israeli authorities.

In November 2020, Yaser, a father of eight children and a resident of Humsa – Al Baqai’a, has had his tractor and mobile water tank confiscated, his only means to transport water for his family and livestock.

“I used to travel about 15 kilometres every day to bring water for my family and livestock. The Israeli authorities confiscated our mobile tank in February and now private vendors refuse to bring water for me as they are now afraid of losing their tanks. Since the incident, I have sent all my family and livestock to a nearby community, as I can’t provide them with water in our own home.”

Mapping people’s water needs in the Jordan Valley

UN and non-UN organizations responding to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) needs coordinate their work through the local WASH Cluster. Between September and December 2020, WASH Cluster partners surveyed 68 Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley. They assessed the WASH needs of each community, registered the services available, monitored how those services can be accessed and identified gaps that need to be addressed. The selected communities comprise some 60,000 Palestinians, 12,500 of whom reside in Area C, where Israel retains near exclusive control of the territory, including over infrastructure, planning, construction, movement and law enforcement. Due to the restrictive planning regime,[2] most Palestinian communities in Area C of the Jordan Valley are not connected to a water network, and/or face impediments in rehabilitating existing connections and constructing or repairing water cisterns.

According to the assessment, some 60 per cent of the Area C residents surveyed rely fully or partially on water trucking (see pie chart), obtaining water either from nearby wells, springs, or from filling points in other communities. Less than half of the residents (41 per cent) can rely solely on water networks. Also, due to the limited amount of water supplied through water networks, some 40 per cent depend on water trucking.

Limited access to water has driven many households to seek alternatives, such as rainwater harvesting and water trucking. However, due to the scarcity of rainfall in the Jordan Valley in recent years[3] and the high cost of trucked water, which is directly affected by access restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities,[4] these alternatives cannot meet the communities’ basic domestic and livelihood consumption needs. Therefore, communities must resort to coping mechanisms, such as limiting their daily quantity of drinking water, which poses health and hygiene risks or reducing their water consumption for domestic and livelihood uses, which is affecting their domestic cleanliness, as well as limiting their abilities to maintain livelihood assets (such as livestock and agricultural lands). In addition, there are concerns regarding the quality of these water resources, since the lack of proper quality control and monitoring systems expose people to health risks linked to water-related diseases.

Due to access restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities, poor infrastructure, and the risk of confiscation, the average water price ranges from two to four times the average in the West Bank generally (NIS5 or $1.50 per cubic metre), for 36 per cent of Area C communities in the Jordan Valley. For other communities (31 per cent), the access to water is even more expensive, reaching up to eight times the average price. Water consumption for these communities drops to less than 50 litres/capita/day (l/c/d), compared with the WHO recommendation of 100 l/c/d.[5] In comparison, all households in nearby Israeli settlements are connected to piped water services. These households have access to permanent and unlimited water supply at affordable prices (NIS9 or $2.8 per cubic metre for drinking use, and NIS2.8 or $0.9 per cubic metre for agricultural use). Such unlimited access to water result in water consumption rates of 300-440 l/c/d,[6] particularly in Israeli settlements focusing on agriculture.

The WASH assessment also revealed that sanitation facilities in these Palestinian Jordan Valley communities do not satisfy the WHO minimum requirements for adequate hygiene, privacy, and dignity.[7] Over 95 per cent of all the surveyed communities in the Jordan Valley are not connected to wastewater services, and many families do not have access to functioning mobile or fixed internal or external latrines. According to WASH Cluster partner, WeWorld-GVC, community members report that without sufficient facilities they are exposed to safety risks and, deprived of privacy, when seeking a space for open defecation or in sharing a latrine with other families.[8]

Fatima, a 36-year-old mother of six, and resident of Humsa – Al Baqai’a: “Since we do not have enough latrines, I sometimes have to take my children in the middle of the night 50 metres away for defecation. We suffer violence from Israeli settlers. It is not safe.”

The assessment also highlighted that over 70 per cent of the communities (68) do not benefit from any solid waste service, leading families to burn, bury or dump their waste in their vicinity.

The limited access to WASH services in the Jordan Valley exposes residents to risks to their livelihood, health, and social life. Families are not able to maintain an acceptable level of hygiene, and many households are required to leave their communities during the hot summer months to find alternative water resources for their livestock. Children and elders are the most vulnerable to health risks, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Women struggle to perform their traditional role of ensuring adequate health and hygiene standards for the household. Moreover, families in general cannot afford the increasing costs of accessing even minimal WASH services.

Helping Palestinians access water-related services

The WASH Cluster and its partners are working to improve safe and dignified access to equitable and adequate water and sanitation services for the most vulnerable communities in the Jordan Valley. The cluster provides household with latrines, polyethylene tanks and mobile tankers, and rehabilitates community cisterns. The cluster also advocates for the Israeli authorities to allow for unserved communities in Area C to be connected to piped water and sanitation services.

For the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan, Cluster Partners submitted seven projects, worth $1.2 million, targeting 11,000 people in Area C communities in the Jordan Valley. If fully funded, these projects will involve the construction and rehabilitation of water pipes, household water cisterns, water trucking, the provision of latrines, in addition to hygiene promotion campaigns. To end-March, less than 20 per cent of the WASH request has been funded.

[1] The average price of water in the West Bank is NIS5 or $1.5 per cubic metre.
[2] For more information see Restricting Space: The Planning Regime Applied by Israel in Area C of the West Bank.
[3] The average annual rainfall in the Jordan Valley is 166 ml. In 2020, only 65 per cent of this figure was reached.
[4] Tubas Governorate Access Restrictions | July 2018.
[5] Domestic Water Quantity, Service Level and Health, World Health Organization 2003.
[6] WASH Cluster, 2021
[7] WHO GUIDELINES ON SANITATION AND HEALTH.
[8] Community Protection Approach (CPA) of WeWorld-GVC.

Children arrested after fleeing from Gaza

“I have many dreams, but I am now convinced of the importance of remaining in Gaza in dignity, rather than crossing the border to Israel again”, says Yousef, a 19-year-old man from Gaza. When he was 17 years old, his thoughts were very different, and he says that his current belief was acquired at a very high cost.

Yousef’s family lives in Jabalia Camp, the largest and most populous refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. They suffer from poverty, and depend mainly on government cash assistance and on food provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). When the Israeli government stopped issuing permits for people from Gaza to work in Israel in 2006, citing security concerns, Yousef’s father lost a good job.[1] Since then, the family’s financial situation has deteriorated, as it has for many other families in Gaza.

The poverty rate in Gaza was expected to reach 64 per cent at the end of 2020,[2] and the already dire socio-economic situation has deteriorated significantly since a second lockdown was imposed in August by the local authorities, to contain the transmission of COVID-19, with unemployment reaching 43 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020.[3]

Yousef’s dream was to become a nurse, but university fees are expensive, and high marks are needed at the General Secondary Certificate – the Tawjihi – to get admitted. According to the Education Cluster, the quality of public education in Gaza is inadequate, with around 65 per cent of UNRWA and public schools operating on a double-shift system, and poor families struggling to buy basic education supplies and pay for school transportation for their children. In 2017-18 the dropout rate in public schools in Gaza was 1.94 per cent for basic education (grades from 1 to 9) and 5.98 per cent for secondary education (grades from 10 to 12).[4]

“In 2019, during my last school year, I decided to take a risk. My friend convinced me that if we managed to cross the perimeter fence [into Israel], we would get paid work and secure better conditions for ourselves and our families. We tried this because we had nothing to lose. The risk of being shot, arrested, or even killed by Israeli soldiers did not stop us, it was our only hope for a better life.”

One night, Yousef and his friend succeeded in crossing the fence. Some 200 metres inside Israel they heard heavy shooting and saw soldiers with dogs and strong lights. The soldiers ordered them to take off all their clothes, and Yousef remembers feeling very humiliated and panic-stricken. He says that he was blind-folded, insulted and heavily beaten when the soldiers took him to Shikma prison in the Israeli city of Ashkelon.[5]

“I was put in isolation and they interrogated me several times, again beating and insulting me. At that time, I did not know what happened to my friend. After 20 days, they finally moved me to another prison.”

He was transferred to Ofer prison in the West Bank, which is also operated by the Israeli authorities. There, he met other children from Gaza, including the friend with whom he crossed the perimeter fence. “In Ofer prison, prison officers finally allowed me to contact a lawyer.”

Between 2015 and 2019, at least 259 Gaza residents, including 96 children, were arrested by Israeli forces while crossing the perimeter fence into Israel. Israeli forces shot dead 24 people, including eight children, while 13 people, including six children, were injured while attempting to cross, according to a recent report by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, a Palestinian organization based in Gaza.

Al Mezan interviewed 91 children like Yousef who had attempted to cross the perimeter fence into Israel between 2015 and 2019. According to the study, the main push factors included poverty, sometimes compounded by domestic violence; the poor quality of life in refugee camps or rural areas; and school drop-out.

More than a third of the children interviewed reported experiencing violence during the arrests. All the children reported being interrogated, and several claimed to have been subjected to various coercive and intimidating questioning methods, including sleep, food and water-deprivation, as well as violence, insults, and humiliation. During their entire period of incarceration, one third had reportedly not been allowed to see a lawyer, the vast majority were denied family visits and several were denied phone calls.

Yousef tried to make the best of his time in jail: “Poverty did not allow me nor any of my family members to attend university. My family does not have the money to secure even the minimum of decent food or to afford the cost of education. Because of this, I decided to study hard in prison and finally succeeded in getting my Tawjihi. I studied alone with my books; the other children were not interested. It was very difficult without any help, the place was not good, but I took the exam in prison and I got 63 per cent!”

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) informed his family that he was in prison and coordinated a visit by his mother. His family received a visit from a human rights organization which gave them some legal advice. When he turned 18, he was transferred to Nafha prison in southern Israel, where adults from Gaza were imprisoned.

According to the Al Mezan report, half of the children were released within 48 hours of being arrested, while others spent an average of five months in Israeli jails or military installations. According to Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, in September 2020, 173 Palestinian children considered criminal offenders were detained or imprisoned in either Israel Defence Force (IDF) or Israel Prison Service (IPS) prisons and facilities.

When children are sent back to Gaza, according to the report, most are arrested and interrogated again, this time by Hamas security services, to verify whether they have become Israeli informants. The 91 children interviewed in the report were imprisoned for periods from a few days to over a week for interrogation, while one third reported being insulted or beaten. All the children were finally released after signing a pledge not to cross the perimeter fence again.

“After nearly ten months in different Israeli prisons, I finished my prison term, so I was released. Fortunately, I was not interrogated by Palestinian security services when I got back to Gaza. I still cannot believe that I returned safe and sound to my family. I still feel traumatized, especially from the first twenty days of torture and humiliation.”

Yousef cannot find work, and university is too expensive to afford. He is still traumatized, and his family is trying to convince him to seek treatment, but he refuses. In Gaza, there is no programme specifically dedicated to address the needs of former prisoners. However, the humanitarian community provides coordinated mental health and psychosocial support, specifically case management, group counselling, individual psychological support and legal aid services for children in conflict with the law, former prisoners included.[6] Yousef is one of 476,000 people in Gaza – including 234,000 children – in need of mental health and psychosocial support, as a direct or indirect result of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.[7]

Referring to the situation of children in Gaza, the former Humanitarian Coordinator, Jamie McGoldrick, made this appeal in 2018, “We call on Israel, as well as the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas authorities in Gaza to put children’s rights ahead of any other considerations and to take immediate steps to alleviate their suffering.” The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)[8] specifically states that “no child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and “the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time”.[9] Reversing the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza is an important step towards guaranteeing children’s rights and giving them hope for the future, so that they do not feel compelled to try and leave the territory.

[1] The number of permits for Palestinian daily labourers from Gaza gradually decreased after 2000 with the beginning of the Second Intifada. The remaining permits were finally cancelled in 2006 when Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections.
[2] OCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview oPt 2021.
[3] World Bank, Economic Monitoring Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (2021).
[4] Source: Education Cluster. Data about school year 2019 – 2020 and 2020 – 2021 are not available due to COVID disruption.
[5] Available list of prisons and detection centres and their description.
[6] UNDP, UN Women and UNICEF, Promoting the Rule of Law in Palestine (Sawasya II) project.
[7] The Protection Cluster estimates that some 198,000 children in Gaza are in need of structured protection and psychosocial support, due to risk of severe and moderate mental health conditions, while nearly 36,000 children require individual case management. Additionally, over 242,000 adults in Gaza, including caregivers, are also in need of various MHPSS services. OCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview oPt 2021.
[8] The Conventions on the Rights of the Child was adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989 and entered into force on 2 September 1990.
[9] CRC: Articles 37(a) and 37(b).

Most Palestinian plans to build in Area C not approved

The Israeli authorities approve only five of over 100 outline plans submitted by Palestinians in Area C

Contributed by UN-Habitat – Special Human Settlements Programme for the Palestinian People

“My son has a house that is located within the boundary of the local outline plan in our village, whereas my house is located outside the planned area. At night, I can’t sleep out of fear of the soldiers arriving at any moment to demolish my house. When all the worrying gets too much for me and I want to get some sleep, I go to my son’s house. The risk of my house being demolished is still there, but I know that his house is safe and secure, and that makes me feel better. Next to us, the settlers are expanding their settlement. We can hear a bulldozer working, but we can’t do the same here.”

Fadel, 55, Palestinian father of 11 children, At Tuwani village (Hebron).

What do you do if you are told you need a permit in order to build a home that would not be demolished, but it is all but impossible to acquire such a permit? This is the situation facing many Palestinians living in Area C in the West Bank.

According to the Israeli authorities, the extensive demolition of Palestinian homes and other structures in Area C is due to the structures being erected without Israeli-issued building permits. Between 1988 and 2014, the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) issued over 14,000 demolition orders against Palestinian-owned structures located in Area C on these grounds.[1] In 2020, a total of 668 structures were demolished in Area C, the highest annual number recorded with the exception of  2016, since OCHA began systematically documenting this practice in 2009. In 2021, the trend is seemingly continuing, with a total of 259 Palestinian-owned structures demolished or seized in Area C (as of 31 March), an increase of 216 per cent compared with the equivalent period in 2020.

The vast majority of Palestinian applications for Israeli building permits in Area C are rejected by the Israeli authorities on the grounds that the relevant area has not been zoned for construction. This is the case even when the land for which the permit is requested is undisputedly owned by the Palestinian applicant. Consequently, it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits: according to data obtained by the Israeli organization Peace Now from the ICA, between 2009 and 2018 only two per cent of all requests submitted by Palestinians for building permits in Area C were granted (98 out of 4,422).

A restrictive and discriminatory planning regime

Following its occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the Israeli authorities took over the planning powers endowed by the Jordanian Planning Law, which was in force at that time. This law was subsequently amended by military orders, which annulled the local and district planning committees representing the Palestinian population, and transferred their powers to the Higher Planning Council, which is exclusively staffed by Israeli officers.[2]

During the early 1990s, the ICA approved some 400 ‘partial special outline plans’ for localities across the West Bank, which were produced with little or no consultation with the Palestinian population. Of these plans, around 110 cover areas that later became Area C and have remained in force through to the present. While structures located within the boundaries of these plans are protected from demolition, less than one per cent of Area C is covered by a planning scheme for Palestinian communities approved by the ICA.  Additionally, these plans only covered part of the built-up areas of communities in Area C, leaving little opportunity for community development, and placing the structures outside the planned areas at risk of demolition.

By contrast, local outline plans[3] approved by the Israeli authorities for Israeli settlements cover at least 8.5 per cent of Area C, according to 2015 OCHA’s estimates. Settlements are illegal under international humanitarian law as they violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of the occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory.[4] According to Peace Now, in 2019 and 2020, the Israeli authorities approved plans for 16,098 units in settlements and issued permits for at least 2,233 housing units.

All local outline plans in Area C are considered amendments of the Regional Outline Plans, approved in the 1940s by the British Mandate. These regional plans designated most of what subsequently became Area C as an ‘agricultural zone’. Although, in theory, they do permit limited construction for residential and other purposes for Palestinians in an agricultural zone, the ICA regularly rejects most building permit applications by Palestinians on the grounds that they do not meet the conditions specified in these plans.[5]

Since 2011, Palestinian communities in Area C have been drafting their own detailed local outline plans, as a means of building essential infrastructure and new houses in the framework of a community development officially approved by the ICA. The process has been supported by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) and international donors and involved significant consultation with the residents of each community. So far, 123 local outline plans have been produced, of which 109 have been submitted to the ICA for approval. Despite the high technical standards of these plans,[6] only five have been approved and another seven have reached the final stage prior to final approval. The remaining 97 plans have been under “technical discussions” for periods ranging from 18 months to seven years, except for four plans submitted in December 2019 and February 2021. The last local outline plans to be fully approved was in 2017.[7]

Except for the period between May 2020 and January 2021[8] when coordination between the parties was halted, the MoLG has engaged with the ICA on behalf of the communities to advance the approval of the plans. This, despite the fact that the PA does not consider full approval by the Israeli authorities necessary in order to advance development and construction in accordance with the plans. Based on certain criteria, the European Union (EU) collectively, as well as certain individual EU members states, sometimes support the construction of essential infrastructure projects in areas covered by pending local outline plans, despite the risk of demolition and confiscation.

The case of At Tuwani village

“At Tuwani is located in Area C. Decades ago, 100 people lived in At Tuwani, but we need new structures as our families grow. There is no public transportation to the communities near At Tuwani, and the roads are rough. The settlers fly their drones and film us, they give the orders and encourage the army to demolish our houses. We build on our own private lands, for which we have all the needed documents. But if we apply for building permits, we never get them, so we build anyway. At the same time, Israeli settlers are building on Palestinian lands, against international law, and nothing happens to them.” Musa, father of 11 children, At Tuwani resident.

Located approximately one kilometre from the Byzantine archaeological site called “Khirbet At Tuwani”, the small Palestinian village At Tuwani is situated in the hilly southern Hebron governorate. The community consists of about 200 residents who moved from two nearby towns, Yatta and Dura. In 1982, the Israeli settlement of Ma’on was established about 900 metres to the east of At Tuwani.

So far, the ICA has issued at least 40 demolition and confiscation orders against about 48 Palestinian structures in At Tuwani. As of March 2021, four structures have been demolished and 21 residents displaced. In the absence of an approved local outline plan, most of the village’s structures remain under threat of demolition and there is still no legal avenue to transform the village into a liveable habitat with basic services.

In 2008, ICA commissioned a local outline plan for At Tuwani (no. 1764), mainly covering the already built-up area of the village. This left no room for further development, entailed minimal public participation, and suggestions and requests for change were not accepted. In 2011, the local community took the initiative to prepare its own village plan, with the endorsement of the Palestinian MoLG, technical support from UN-Habitat, and financial support by the United Kingdom, and subsequently by the EU. The proposed plan was submitted to the ICA in July 2011, published for public objection in January 2014, and initially approved on 7 December 2020. The plan is currently awaiting final publication to enter into force.

Bakker is 21 years old and lives in At Tuwani, in the area included within the community-proposed local outline plan: “In the past, we used to stay awake all night, worrying that the soldiers could come at any time to demolish another house. Now we feel a bit more secure, although we are still waiting for the final approval of our plan. I feel assured that if I want to expand my house, my efforts and the money I put into it won’t be in vain. It’s so unjust when you work so hard and invest so much in a house, and it’s all gone in a matter of seconds.”

The proposed plan retroactively legalizes structures targeted by 17 demolition orders issued by the ICA. Based on this plan, the EU has supported the construction of an additional floor for the local school, and the rehabilitation of internal roads through the Municipal Development and Lending Fund, a semi-governmental Palestinian institution for reform and development assistance to local government. In addition, UN-Habitat supported the design and implementation of a public space in At Tuwani, with the active participation of women and children’s groups, and with financial support from the UN.

The way forward

The restrictive and discriminatory planning regime applied in Area C and East Jerusalem makes it virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain the requisite Israeli building permits. Public and confiscated land in those areas has been allocated almost exclusively to Israeli settlements or to the military. Most private land has been zoned as agricultural or ‘green’, or is not planned, impeding the issuance of permits in these areas. To meet their housing and livelihood needs, many Palestinians are left with little choice than to build without permits, risking demolition and displacement, or to move elsewhere. Along with other constraints, the restrictive planning regime applied by Israel in Area C contributes to the creation of a coercive environment on residents, leading to risk of forcible transfer. In addition to demolition and the threat of demolition of homes, schools and livelihoods, other pressures include the denial of service infrastructure; access restrictions on farming and grazing land; poor law enforcement on violent settlers; and the revocation of residency rights, among other policies and practices.[9]

Under international law, Israel has the obligation to ensure that the humanitarian needs of Palestinians living under occupation are met and that they are able to lead life normally. Israel must also ensure that Palestinians under occupation are able to exercise their human rights, including their right to an adequate standard of living, to adequate housing, and to be free from discrimination. International law also prohibits the destruction of private or public property, unless absolutely required by military operations, as well as the forced transfer or displacement of civilians.

The provision of adequate spatial planning for rural communities in Area C is essential to improve the living conditions of their residents and to relieve the pressure on them to move. The use of community-led local outline plans, notwithstanding the time and efforts required for their development and their current rate of approval by Israeli authorities, can potentially remove the risk of demolition. The Israeli authorities’ approval of pending community-led local outline plans for Palestinian communities in Area C would be a significant step towards the fulfilment of their international obligations.

The international community should continue to support spatial planning in Area C and continue its advocacy efforts to defend housing, land, and property rights for Palestinian communities across the oPt, including in Area C.

[1] OCHA, Under Threat: Demolition orders in Area C of the West Bank (2015). In many cases, the same order targets multiple structures owned by the same household (e.g. their residence, an animal shelter, a storage room or a latrine). The actual number of structures affected is estimated, based on an examination of over 90 per cent of the records, to be about 17,000.
[2] For a detailed explanation of the planning approval process for Palestinians in Area C and how it was developed, see Bimkom, The Prohibited Zone. Israeli Planning Policy in the Palestinian Villages in Area C (2008).
[3] Local outline plans are also known as master plans, a statutory planning tool in use in Area C.
[4] This has been confirmed by the International Court of Justice, the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the United Nations Security Council in successive resolutions.
[5] For further details, see: Bimkom, The Prohibited Zone: Israeli planning policy in the Palestinian villages in Area C (2008); UN, ‘One UN’ Approach to Spatial Planning in Area C of the occupied West Bank (2015).
[6] UN-Habitat, Spatial Planning in Area C of the Israeli occupied West Bank of the Palestinian territory. Report of an International Advisory Board (2015).
[7] Ti’nnik (Jenin) and Ezbat at Tabib (Qalqiliya).
[8] Coordination between the PA and Israeli authorities regarding other sectors resumed in November 2020, but this specific issue took two more months.
[9] Humanitarian Needs Overview 2020.