Israel’s construction of a separation barrier will severely affect the livelihoods of Palestinians in the Jerusalem area, according to a January report by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The report predicts that Palestinians living in the Jerusalem area will suffer from the same limited access to goods, services, natural resources, market and job opportunities as populations in the northern areas of the West Bank living behind the separation fence. Vulnerable families enrolled under the Emergency and Special Hardship programs will not only be integrated into this general wave of impoverishment, they will be impacted by access problems that UNWRA Agency staff will experience in the delivery of aid.
The report cites that 19,513 families in the Jerusalem area receive assistance from UNWRA. Some 18 staff members of the Relief and Social Services department will need to cross the barrier every day in order to reach their work place and/or perform their duties in the community.
The Israeli government began construction work on the controversial electronic fence last year in an attempt to prevent suicide bombers from entering the country from the West Bank. The fence is forecasted to extend the entire length of the West Bank, 350 kilometers, costing one million dollars per kilometer. The barrier consists of a series of fences, walls, ditches, patrol roads and electronic surveillance devices. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
