Situation in West Bank at times worse than Gaza

The number of people concerned is much less compared to Gaza, but for Save the Children this is no reason to leave this group unattended -- and for clear reasons because in the “pockets of poverty” of the West Bank living conditions can be worse than in Gaza. For instance, while in Gaza 61 percent of the population is threatened by food shortages, this figure can go up to 79 percent in some parts of the West Bank.

Especially in the Jordan Valley, about 30 percent of the West Bank, the situation is at times extremely alarming. Before the occupation began in 1967 an estimated 200,000-320,000 Palestinians were living there. Since then most of the territory has been swallowed by Jewish settlements and closed military zones. What is left has been declared nature reserves by Israel or is kept in reserve by the Zionist state for the building of future settlements.

Now only 6 percent of the land is left to the indigenous population, which explains why no more than 56,000 Palestinians remain there. Most of them reside in the city of Jericho. However, it is the situation of the minority consisting of small farming and herding communities living in rural areas especially that is particularly troublesome. The inhabitants have been displaced on military orders, temporarily or permanently. Houses have been demolished and land has been confiscated to be used by the Israeli Defense Forces or for new settlements. Israel refuses to give permission for the construction of new houses for the local people, forcing many to live in tents.

The refusal of construction permission also results in a shortage of schools, confronting children with the choice of either travelling for many hours every day to find an education or being separated from their families. Neither will Israel give permission for the repair of essential infrastructure, such as roads and drainage systems.

Israel does not make life easy for the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley. The area is only accessible through three checkpoints, making it difficult for inhabitants to visit family or do work in other parts of the West Bank. Thirty-eight percent of those asked consider the checkpoints one of the main obstacles to making a living.

Between May 2005 and April 2007 the situation even went as far as Palestinians only being allowed entrance to the Jordan Valley if they could prove they were living there. Those who owned land in the area but could not prove they were residents were refused entry. Nowadays Palestinians still need special permission from the Israeli authorities to use the main highway towards the north. The colonists living in the Jewish settlements are not bothered by any restrictions in this respect, which seems to confirm the intention of the policy.

Depending mostly on the hospital in Jericho, 62 percent of the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley consider health services to be insufficient, a much higher percentage than reported elsewhere in the West Bank. The lack of food resulting from the limitations imposed by Israel on the use of land for agricultural purposes causes malnutrition, which is a major factor in the development of public health problems. Children are particularly affected. Younger children often suffer from diarrhea, causing many to die before the age of 5. Other children are physically underdeveloped, while more than 10 percent are underweight.

The availability of water is another problem for Palestinians in the Jordan Valley. While Jewish settlers have no lack of water whatsoever and get huge discounts from the Israeli water company, Palestinians have to pay much more. Consequently, the Jewish settlers are able to use more than six times as much water as the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley. The lack of drinking water often forces people to drink polluted water, which beyond any doubt adds to the health problems within their community.

A complicating factor is that for Palestinians living in the West Bank’s pockets of poverty, it is even more difficult to find international humanitarian aid than for Gazans. In Area C almost 50 percent of households surveyed by Save the Children claim that external aid has not reached them in any way.

In cooperation with local partners, Save the Children has started projects to support the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, such as offering protection to families who are threatened by displacement, renovating houses and installing water tanks. Save the Children has demanded that Israel ends the confiscation of land and no longer demolish houses. But most of all the organization is asking for immediate support for children in this area since their needs cannot wait until possible negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority begin.