The United Nations Development Program (UNDP)’s Program of Assistance to the Palestinian people has issued a call to the international community for $18 million in emergency assistance to address the humanitarian needs of the communities most affected by the construction of the separation wall in the West Bank by the government of Israel.
The UNDP’s proposed emergency assistance program is a multi-faceted project that addresses immediate employment needs and will improve vitalsocial, municipal and agricultural infrastructure necessary for sustaining the livelihoods of Palestinian residing in areas affected by the wall.
In addition to the generation of over 200,000 employment opportunities in the affected areas, the UNDP’s proposed intervention includes land reclamation projects, the construction of agricultural roads, improving the water infrastructure, revamping the health care and education systems, building the capacity of the municipalities and village councils, as well as a multitude of infrastructure projects developed in consultation with stakeholders.
The Government of Israel began construction of the barrier a year ago, composed of a complex series of walls, barriers, trenches, and fences within the western border of the occupied West Bank. The wall has encircled and isolated many Palestinian cities and villages.
The ‘footprint’ of the first phase of construction has been estimated at 11,500 dunums. When completed, this first phase of the wall will cut across roads and water networks and will form a barrier between Palestinians living on each side and their agricultural lands, water wells, urban markets and public services.
The impact of the wall on agriculture is of particular concern in the governorates of Jenin, Tulkarm and Qalqiliya, where the first phase is being constructed. The wall could severely constrain the delivery of basic social services and commercial exchange, especially the movements of agricultural products, Palestinian officials have said.
Jenin, Tulkarm and Qalqilya account for just 18 percent of the West Bank's overall territory, but produced 45 percent of the West Bank's total agricultural output, with an estimated value of $220 million in 2000.
It is estimated that the direct damage to the agricultural sector in these governorates from the barrier construction to date includes the destruction of some 83,000 olive and other fruit trees, 615 dunums of irrigated land, 37 kilometers of water networks and 15 kilometers of agricultural roads. In addition, a total of 238,350 dunums of land are being isolated between the Green Line and the Wall, 57 percent of which is cultivated, mostly with olive trees and field crops.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, when asked to comment about the wall, said: “I know that it is conventional wisdom that fences make good neighbors. But that is if you build a fence on your own land and you do not disrupt your neighbor’s life.” — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
