Jerusalem, 24/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - It is the opinion of the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN agency that is a partner of the European Commission for supplying emergency humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable Palestinian populations in the occupied territories, that food insecurity in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank still gives great cause for concern, and will do so for some time to come. To the backdrop of less strained political relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority since the truce established on 8 February this year, and the uncertainty surrounding the timetable and conditions for implementing the plan for withdrawing Jewish repopulation colonies (foreseen for mid-August), unemployment and poverty have reached unprecedented levels. Hence the Commission's recent decision to allocate, via its humanitarian service ECHO, EUR 28.3 million in aid to one million Palestinians in the occupied territories of Lebanon (EUROPE 8945). The decision will be completed in the autumn by funds to increase total ECHO aid in the occupied territories and fringe countries that host refugees to around EUR 35 million in 2005 (37.35 million in 2004 for one million people in need, of whom 4/5 are in the occupied territories).
During a trip organised by the WFP in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (15-20 May), the European press was able to assess the needs of the very poorest among the non-refugee populations, on which WFP emergency operations are focused with the support of ECHO. It was also able to determine the fragility of the Israeli-Palestinian truce. Chronically poor families (chronic poor = households deprived of a livelihood) and the new poor (= those households that have lost their income, assets and livelihoods and have limited capacity to earn income and replenish their assets) are the main target groups of the third WFP annual emergency operations plan underway since 1 September 2004, ending 30 August. From 1 September 2005, a transitional two-year relief and rehabilitation programme will take over, in collaboration with the Palestinian Ministers of Planning and the Agriculture Authority for institutional strengthening in the aim of improving food security, Geneviève Wills, WFP official in the occupied territories, explains.
ECHO finances purchase of Palestinian olive oil for Gaza's poorest
Emergency relief has increased by two- or threefold since May 2002. Distribution of 78,400 million tonnes of basic food commodities (wheat flour, vegetable oil and olive oil, sugar, lentils and chickpeas) has been made to 480,000 persons. An institutional programme covers some 10,000 people living semi-permanently or permanently in charitable institutions. The remainder is broken down into specific programmes for the new poor: 1) purchase of olive oil from 2,600 selected Palestinian farmers, plus transport and bottling, and its distribution to the WFP beneficiaries in the Gaza Strip. The programme, which is financed by ECHO, the United States and Italy, mainly allows a remedy to be found for the structural problem of the cost of production that is far higher than in Spain or Italy, guarantees the quality of oil while respecting local food habits. “We cruelly need this programme to absorb the surplus production of 35,000 tonnes annually”, Sheker Judeh, Director General of the Agriculture Ministry, said in Tulkarem (West Bank); 2) the programme “work for food” or “training for food”, which has, for example, allowed a road to be made between two villages cut off from access to Qalqilia (West Bank town totally surrounded by the security fence). Elsewhere, in Mughraqa, at the centre for women of the Al Basma farming community, Bedouin women are learning to read and write, follow courses on healthcare and the environment or practice embroidery, with the support of the CRIC (Centro Regionale d'Intervenzione per la Cooperazione), Carla Pagano from the Italian NGO partner to WFP and ECHO explains.
“The United States provides us with food in 'food for peace' bags”. The EU gives us cash, and the WFP buys food, which allows greater flexibility. “Switzerland and Sweden are the other donors”, Jean-Luc Siblot, WFP Director in the occupied territories, explains, the day before taking over his new post for the same organisation in New York. “The crisis in the Palestinian territories (…) is a highly political humanitarian crisis, arising mainly from economic reasons since the second Intifada: over 40% of unemployment, 50-60% of the population living below the poverty line of two dollars a day and 16% below the dire poverty level, with less than 1.5 dollars a day”, he said. He added: “The WFP mission is very clear, but it is a nightmare to implement because of the restrictions imposed on carrying food from point A to point B (…). We have to negotiate all the time with the Israeli authorities (IDF) as soon as a truck is to leave. All that takes juggling (…). Mirjana Kavelj, head of the WFP logistic in the occupied territories also denounces the constantly changing security rules and the time lost with the obligation to practice transhipment from Israeli trucks to Palestinian trucks when cargo arrives at the port of Ashdod, as UN trucks are not authorised to enter either the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. She also hopes the proposal will be negotiated by the Swiss with the Israeli authorities to clarify these abusive rules. Answering questions on his hopes in the Jewish colony withdrawal plan, Jean-Luc Siblot replied: “Withdrawal is all very well. But (…) if border controls remain as strict and if freedom to trade is not authorised, then Gaza will not be viable. In the very best scenario, the economic situation of the Palestinians will not change overnight”. On visit to Israel, on 20 May, the European Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, considered it crucial that the economic separation between Gaza and Israel after disengagement should not take place and that Gaza should remain within the customs union with Israel.
Regis Meritan, expert in the Commission's technical assistance team based in Jerusalem, recalls that, before the second Intifada, the ratio between humanitarian aid and development aid was 1: 5, but stands at 7: 1 today. Sébastien Carliez, regional official for information on behalf of ECHO, based in the Commission's delegation in Amman (Jordan), specifies that: “The wall as such is a hindrance to international humanitarian law (…). For several months, things have been a little better. There is a general climate of appeasement that is to everyone's advantage: to the Palestinian populations and to the humanitarian agencies”.
WFP aid is mainly for communities affected by the construction of the separation barrier in the West Bank (known as a wall in the towns, and fence or barrier in the countryside), set up to prevent suicide attacks being perpetrated against the Israeli population. The flow of Palestinian day workers working in the industrial area close to the Eres crossing point (Gaza Strip) or in Israel has dried up: from 60,000 before the second Intifada there are now only 4,000 still authorised to pass. “In the occupied territories, giving people work is a humanitarian act”, Sébastien Carliez from ECHO states.
The European Commission's financial contribution to the WFP since 2000 has been EUR 23 million in support to food security via the Community budget and EUR 6.2 million in humanitarian aid through ECHO between 2002 and 2004. The United States is the largest contributor to the WFP budget which is EUR 40 million annually. For the past three years, the Commission was the largest provider of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians with EUR 183 allocated to the vulnerable populations throughout the region.