By Raji Sourani The interdependent and inextricable link between human rights and development is no more evident than in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT - the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem), where the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people are routinely and systematically violated.
In the protracted and bitter conflict that continues to embroil this region, it is difficult to dissociate one from the other as the population lives under a de facto apartheid system, created and enforced by Israel through the occupation of Palestinian land.
Since the beginning of the occupation in 1967, Israel has used administrative, legal and military orders to destroy the Palestinian infrastructure, rendering Palestinian society totally dependent upon Israel.
Under the Oslo Accords, Palestinian economic dependence was formalised by the Paris Protocols (1993), which gave Israel total control over Palestinian imports and exports.
Since Oslo, Israel has continued to use various means to prevent economic independence, including imposed closures and the destruction of Gaza's international airport and 13% of its agricultural land.
Since the beginning of Al Aqsa Intifada in September 2000, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated rapidly.
Closure, curfews, bombardment and house demolitions have all become part of life for many of the 1.3 million Palestinians within the confines of the Gaza Strip.
For the majority of the population, there is no free passage into Israel, no access to the West Bank and severely restricted access to the outside world.
This not only affects civil, political, cultural and social interactions, but greatly infringes on economic rights.
Due to the severe restrictions on movement, trade and economic contact between the two areas that make up the OPT is limited, impeding and even preventing development in the region.
Moves towards the development of Palestinian society have been largely backed by local and international non-governmental organisations, foreign government development projects and, of course, the United Nations.
Yet the total monetary support that the OPT receives from international donors does not even come close to the losses incurred by the policy of closure.
Meanwhile, debate rages over whether or not development projects in the OPT should be funded, if the millions of dollars being poured into the struggling society are effectively supplanting Israel's responsibility and masking its culpability for the economic and social suffocation.
The continuation of Israel's policy of dispossessing the Palestinian people of their political and cultural heritage through the control and destruction of their economic resources is resulting in long-term human suffering in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli settlements in the OPT have had a dire impact on development.
Settlement policy entails numerous violations of international humanitarian law, such as transferring the occupying power's citizens into occupied territory and annexing land to settlements in order to facilitate expansion.
Not only is land stolen from Palestinians but other necessities such as water are expropriated in an attempt to force the Palestinian populations to lave the area, which in turn leads to further expansion of the settlement boundaries.
Israeli settlement supporters say that they need to allow for the natural growth of their populations, apparently ignoring the fact that the needs of 7,000 illegal Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip are dwarfed by the needs of the 1.3 million Palestinians.
Development in the Gaza Strip is also greatly affected by violations of human rights in the form of killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, destruction to private property and agricultural land.
The most insufferable aspect of the human rights situation in the Gaza Strip is the effect it has had and continues to have on human development, in particular that of women and children.
The collective punishment of the Palestinian people, the de facto apartheid system and the economic suffocation have all created a situation where development, in the true sense of the word, is impracticable.
The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action stated: 'Democracy, development and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent and mutually reinforcing.' (World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 14-25 June 1993) The right to development is incontrovertible.
Numerous international instruments to which Israel is a state party, including the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, enshrine the notion of an individual and population's right to development.
As long as the occupation persists and Palestinians are faced with daily violations of their human rights, the deterioration of their economic, social, cultural and political development will continue.[TWNF] About us | Advertise | Other Publications | Subscriptions | Weather | Letters | Send Mail Disclaimer: Information is being made available at this site purely as a measure of public facilitation.
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