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Daily life under occupation
Israels occupation of Palestine is the longest -lasting occupation in modernhistory.
Vestiges of the occupation are everywhere. It seriously impedes the Palestinianfrom attaining an adequate quality of life, as is guaranteed under internationallaw.
From the Apartheid Wall; checkpoints; random arrests and detentions; and lackof freedom of movement are just some of the topics covered in thispresentation to give you a brief glimpse of what daily life is like for Palestinians.
The presentation also will show how this occupation, which deprivesPalestinians of their basic human rights, is supported by billions of dollars ofU.S. taxpayer money.
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This graphic depicts the loss of historic Palestine from the Partition of Palestine in 1947 until today. The WestBank, which Israel occupied in 1967, is now carved up into small Bantustans because of settlements, by-passroads and the Apartheid Wall.
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Daily life under occupationThe occupation hasfragmented Palestinian
society in such a waythere is limited and,sometimes, no contactbetween residents of the West Bank, Gaza orhistoric Palestine
(Israel).
The people of theWest Bank are fightingfor their lives, while wein Israel are fighting for
our civil rights. ~ Habib Karam,Palestinian resident of Israel
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Refugees and the Diaspora Palestinians
750,000 Palestinians refugees during
Nakba of 1947-1949.
350,000 Palestinian refugees during SixDay War in 1967
7 million Total number of Palestinianrefugees worldwide
5 million - Refugees registered withUNRWA
1.4 million UNRWA refugees living in 58camps in the West Bank, E. Jerusalem,
Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan
2 million Refugees in Diaspora notregistered with UNRWA
70% Total Palestinian population who arerefugees
(Source: UNRWA.org and Al-Awda.org)
Palestinians make up the largest and longest-lasting refugee population in the world.
Omar Daoud of suburban Chicago shows a map from his village of Ein Karem,marked to show the land his family used to own before Zionists forced them fromtheir land in 1948.
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Gaza
90% of the water supply iscontaminated and not fitfor human consumption
Israelsprohibitionof imports
meanspeople in
Gazamust rely
upon atunneleconomyto survive
The siege was tightened in 2007 afterHamas won parliamentary elections(2006) and took over Gaza. But the
siege actually started in 1991, withrestricted travel to the West Bank andhistoric Palestine, known today as Israel.
(Source: Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement)
80% of Gazas residentsrely on the United Nationsfor food aid.
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GazaGazas students need at least 105new schools because OperationCast Lead and the siege havedestroyed and/or damaged at least280 buildings.
(Operation Cast Lead was the 3-week Israeli offensive that killedmore than 1,400 Palestinians inGaza including at least 355
children.)UNRWA turned away 40,000students at the start of the 2010- 11school year due to lack of space.
More than 1,000 college students
apply for study abroad programsannually; fewer than 100 arepermitted to leave Gaza.
(Source: UNRWA; Palestinian Ministry of HigherEducation)
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International lawgives Palestiniansthe right to fish up
to 20 nautical milesoff their shore, butIsraeli OccupationForces force them
to fish shallowwaters within 3
miles of shore. The
Israeli Navy firesupon the fishermenwith live
ammunition andwater cannons.(Source: The Guardian,
July 24)
Income losses, because of the siege and Operation Cast Lead, amount to about $24 millionper day, 80% of Gazas gross domestic product, according to the UN Economic and SocialCouncil.(Source: Operation Cast Lead: A Statistical Analysis, Al Haq)
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Despite Israels promises to ease the blockadein June 2010, conditions have stayed the sameor have become worse.
Consumer goods increased, but only to 35%, upfrom 20%, of pre-blockade levels.
Most raw materials are still banned.
Inflow of construction materials still at 11% of pre-blockade levels.
Ban on exports remains in place except for a fewloads of strawberries. Between June andNovember 2010, not one truckload of goods wasallowed to leave Gaza.
Fuel for power remains at 68% of capacity
Cooking fuel remains at 53% of needs
Almost no gasoline or diesel fuel allowed in.
(Source: Dashed Hopes: Continuation of the Gaza Blockade,Nov. 30, 2010.
Rafah Crossing
With the Egyptian Revolution came hope that theRafah border crossing with Gaza would be openedpermanently.
That is not the case.
Currently, only 300 Palestinians are allowed to crossthrough Rafah each day.
Easing the blockade
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West BankPalestinians living in the West Banklive under direct threat of violenceand loss of liberty because of theoccupation. Some of the mostcommon ramifications of theoccupation that violate their legallyguaranteed rights to quality of life,to education, health care andmovement include:
Settlements
The Apartheid Wall
Checkpoints and closures
Home demolitions
Security apparatus
Random arrests and detentions
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Thanks to the Oslo Accords, theWest Bank is carved up into three
categories:
Zone A is under total Palestiniancivil control
Zone B is under Israeli control andPalestinian Authority administration
Zone C is under total Israeli control
Palestinians are not free to travelfrom one zone to another without a
travel permit. They are alsoprohibited in traveling in or utilizing
land in many areas of Area C especially land abutting settlements.
West Bank fragmentation
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Israel establishedits first settlement
just 5 weeks afterthe end of the SixDay War in 1967.
(Source:Fifty Years of Israel
by Donald Neff)
Settlements
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Settlements are being
constructed in strategic areas todivide the West Bank from north-south and east-west.
Settlements and the buffer zones surrounding them nowaccount for more than 40 percentof West Bank land
Israel offers incentives in the wayof mortgage subsidies and otheraid to encourage Jews to move tothe colonies.
SettlementsOther incentives offered includereduction in land prices; grants to buyapartments; reduction in income taxfor companies and grants forinvestors and companies building todoing business in the colonies.
The U.S. government has funded theimmigration to Israel of Russian Jews,who usually end up living in thesettlements.
In 2007, 40 percent of thesettlements' population growth wascomprised of Jews emigrating fromIsrael and abroad.(Source: Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions)
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How can you tellsettlement housingfrom Palestinianhousing?
(Hint: Look at the rooftops)
Israeli authorities control allthe water resources in theWest Bank. Water toPalestinians is regularly cut offto ensure ample supply forcolonial settlers so they storewater in rooftop tanks.
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26 gallons per person per day = healthywater usage
18.5 gallons = Palestinians usage 79 gallons = Israelis and settlers usage
(Source: World Health Organization)
Israel controls more than 80% ofthe water from the MountainAquifer, the only undergroundsource of water in the West Bankas well as surface water from theJordan River.Palestinians have no share in thiswater.(Source: Amnesty International)
At least 20,000Palestiniansliving in rural
areas have noaccess to
running water.Even cities andtowns that are
connected to awater-supply
systemexperience
frequentoutages.
(Source: AmnestyInternational)
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Road inPalestinianvillage inWest Bank
Jewish-only roadin WestBank
Apartheid anddiscrimination in services
Though Palestinians pay the same
taxes as Israelis, they do notreceive the same services.
In the West Bank, Palestinians donot receive garbage pick-up. Mostresort to burning their garbage.
Most of their roads are not pavedor they lack curbs, gutters andtraffic signals.
They do not have postal delivery.
They do not have regular busservice.
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When completed, the Apartheid Wall will be about450 miles long, twice as long as the 1948 borders.
85 percent of the wall is being built on Palestinianland, annexing an additional 12 percent of landinto Israel.
Apartheid Wall
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In 2004, the International Court ofJustice ruled it was illegal to build the
wall on Palestinian land.
Palestinians trapped on the wrongside of the wall must now obtainpermits to remain in their own houses.
In the northern West Bank, 10,000Palestinians in this situation.
About 500,000 Palestinians live inareas severed by the wall.
77 percent of school children reportedthey missed school occasionally
because the walls checkpoints areclosed.
(Source: Grim Statistics:The reality of living under occupation, AMP. 2011)
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Myth: The Wall has stopped suicide bombings in IsraelFact: The Wall still is not finished; suicide bombings stopped in 2006.
Moral: The Wall is about annexing more land into Israel. It is not aboutsecurity.
Source: Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
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Checkpoints, roadblocksand closures
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The West Bank has about 600 checkpoints, closures and other obstacles, suchas trenches, earthen mounds and cement piles , which restricts Palestinians areforbidden from traveling sometimes even crossing about 120 miles or roads.
(Source: BTselem
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Israeli OccupationForces have destroyed
25,000 homes in the
West Bank and Gazasince 1967 and 2,000 inEast Jerusalem.
Currently, there are20,000 demolitions
orders outstanding inEast Jerusalem.
90% of West Bankresidents can no longer
enter Jerusalem and100% of Gaza residents
are prohibited.(Source: Israeli Committee Against
House Demolitions)
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
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Demolished
Source: Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
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Home demolitionsIsrael announced plans
in fall 2011 to expelnearly 60,000
Palestinians in 2012.
27,000 are Palestiniansliving in Area C of theWest Bank. Area C
about 60 percent of theWest Bank is under full
Israeli control, is closedto Palestinians.
30,000 Bedouins in theNaqab Desert in the
southern portion ofhistoric Palestine, known
today as Israel, areslated to be relocated tourbanized reservations.
(Source: BTselem
Israeli Occupation Forces have destroyed Al Araqib village in the Naqab more than20 times.
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Security
The IsraeliOccupationForces, police andthe Palestinian
Authority securityforces, whichsupport Israelipolicy, controlevery aspect ofPalestinian life.
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Random arrests and detentionsEach year, about 700 Palestinian children,some as young as 12 years old, are arrestedand prosecuted in the Israeli military courtsystem.
Throwing a stone can net a prison term of 20years.
Israeli Occupation forces routinely take
children from their beds in the middle of thenight.
Thousands of Palestinian political prisonerslanguish in Israeli jails, in violation ofinternational law.
Israeli citizens are prosecuted in civiliancourts but Palestinians are tried in militarycourts.
(Source: Defence for Children International Palestine Section)
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Palestinian citizens of Israel & unrecognized villages
Palestinians make up about 20 percentof the Israeli population
Since 2003, Palestinians have not beenallowed to apply for Israeli citizenship
The Citizenship Law prohibitsPalestinians from the West Bank or Gazafrom residing in Israel with their spousesor families.
Israeli authorities approved just 33reunification requests out of 600between November 2008 and April 2010.
The need for children to live with theirparents is not considered a humanitarianconsideration for reunification
Israel operates a segregated school systemand spends more than $1,000 per Jewish pupilbut only $190 per non-Jewish student.
More than 10,000 classrooms are needed forPalestinians students to reach the samequality of education as their Jewish peers.
Palestinians students are not allowed to learnabout the Nakba or other important aspects oftheir history and heritage.
Certain fields of study and careers are notavailable to Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Palestinians citizens of Israel may soon needto take a loyalty oath to the Jewish state,thereby denying their true heritage.
(Source: Grim Statistics: The reality of living under occupation, AMP 2011)
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Palestinian citizens of Israel & unrecognized villages
About 100 Palestinian villages in Israel are
not recognized by the government
Residents pay the same taxes as IsraeliJewish citizens, who receive full services.
(Source: Grim Statistics: The reality of living under occupation, AMP2011
Palestinians in unrecognized villages
receive no services: No roads, schools,utilities, health care.
Israel plans to dispossess about 30,000Bedouins in the Naqab Desert in 2012..
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I have nothing hopeful to say.
Samir Zbadet, 24, resident of the unrecognizedvillage, el-Zbadet, when asked if he had amessage for the American public.~ October 2010
Palestinian citizens of Israel & unrecognized villages
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The US gives Israel nearly $3billion in unconditional military aidannually.
In per capita terms, that amountsto more than $500 per Israeli.
It amounts to $8 million per day.
Israel has been the largestrecipient of US foreign aid since1976.
US aid to Israel
20 percent of the US foreign aid budget isallotted to Israel.
Unlike other foreign aid recipients, whoseaid is distributed in installments throughoutthe year, Israel gets one payment up front,
costing the US taxpayer in lost interest.
(Source: Congressional Research Service; The Israel Lobby by JohnMearsheimer and Steve Walt.
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The total cumulative U.S. aid to Israel from 1949 through 2009 is more than $106 billion.
US aid to Israel
This figure is not adjusted for inflation.
Source: Congressional Research Service
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Reading listIn Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story By Ghada KarmiThe Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy By John Mearsheimer and Stephen M. WaltFifty Years of IsraelBy Donald NeffThe Ethnic Cleansing of PalestineBy Ilan Pappe
The End of the Peace Process: Oslo andAfterBy Edward SaidA Doctor in Galilee: The Life and Struggleof a Palestinian in IsraelBy Hatim KanaanehDeliberate Deceptions: Facing the Factsabout the U.S.-Israeli Relationship By Paul Findley
Websiteswww.ampalestine.org http://endtheoccupation.org/ http://www.assoc40.org/en/ http://www.adalah.org/eng/ www.pchrgaza.org www.btselem.org/ www.badil.org/ www.defenceforchildren.org/ www.bdsmovement.net www.whoprofits.org
Resources
http://www.ampalestine.org/http://endtheoccupation.org/http://www.assoc40.org/en/http://www.adalah.org/eng/http://www.pchrgaza.org/http://www.btselem.org/http://www.badil.org/http://www.defenceforchildren.org/http://www.bdsmovement.net/http://www.whoprofits.org/http://www.whoprofits.org/http://www.bdsmovement.net/http://www.defenceforchildren.org/http://www.badil.org/http://www.btselem.org/http://www.pchrgaza.org/http://www.adalah.org/eng/http://www.assoc40.org/en/http://endtheoccupation.org/http://www.ampalestine.org/8/3/2019 Daily Life Under Occupation
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Contact AMP
American Muslims for Palestine10101 S. Roberts RoadPalos Hills, IL 60465
www.ampalestine.org
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