Pressure is mounting on Israel – at the United Nations and in the European Union – to ease the plight of the Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza. On the sixth anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s demand that the separation barrier be re-routed and dismantled where it breaches Palestinian territory, the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Health Organisation issued a damning new report condemning the impact of the barrier on health and agriculture in the occupied territories.
The new study shows that movement restrictions are preventing access to six specialist hospitals in East Jerusalem for staff and patients. The report also highlights the difficulties for those living and working in the “seam zone” – the areas isolated by the Wall. UN projections indicate the finished Wall, currently 61 per cent completed, will leave almost 10 per cent of the West Bank on the Israeli side.
Most of the barrier is to be built on Palestinian land, with approximately 7,800 people trapped in this “seam zone”. And that figure, says the UN, is set to treble. At present patients are required to pass through three checkpoints on foot, a policy the WHO describes as “undignified and often unsafe” for severely ill patients.
A further problem has been the lack of access for hospital staff, who until 2008 had been given special dispensation to pass East Jerusalem checkpoints. That “privilege” was then suspended before protests led to it being restored for doctors, but not nurses or support staff, who now face lengthy delays and periodic refusals in attempting to access their workplace. WHO officials say the Israeli authorities have given “no clear reason” for this “damaging policy”.
The problem is even more severe for patients. Last year, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported 440 “denials and delays” of ambulances in the occupied territories. Meanwhile, Baroness Cathy Ashton, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, on a tour of the Gaza Strip, urged Israel to lift its blockade. Although some consumer goods are being allowed in, Israel continues to ban all exports and restricts the import of vitally needed construction materials.
Baroness Ashton said: “The position of the EU is very clear. We want to see the opportunity for people to be able to move around freely, to see goods not only coming into Gaza but exports coming out of Gaza.”
