- JERUSALEM -- Restrictions
imposed by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have had a disastrous
impact on the lives of Palestinians and crippled their economy, a report
by Amnesty International said on Monday.
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- "Unemployment and poverty has spiralled, malnutrition
has emerged, anaemia and other health problems have increased and education
has been negatively affected," the report by the London-based rights
group said.
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- Sweeping and indiscriminate restrictions on Palestinians
and their goods violated their right to freedom of movement and the right
to work, it added.
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- "Some 60 percent of Palestinians now live below
the poverty line of $2 per day and most are forced to depend on aid,"
it said.
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- "The high levels of unemployment, poverty, malnutrition
and other health problems afflicting Palestinians are not just a humanitarian
problem -- they are the direct result of the restrictions imposed by Israel
on the Palestinians in the occupied territories."
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- Dangerous journey
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- Travelling even a short distance between towns and villages
in the West Bank usually entailed "a lengthy, costly and potentially
dangerous journey for Palestinians".
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- Army checkpoints frequently forced Palestinians to make
major diversions, often by foot. "Such detours are difficult or impossible
for the sick, the elderly or those carrying heavy packages or small children."
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- The report also criticised the impact of curfews which
are frequently imposed by the Israeli authorities in Palestinian areas
which are under their control.
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- "After the Israeli army retook control of the main
West Bank towns in the spring of 2002 (at the height of the Palestinian
intifada), 24-hour curfews were imposed for days and in some cases weeks,"
it said.
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- "The army almost completely stopped vital service
providers and ambulances from functioning."
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- A controversial security barrier being built across the
West Bank, which at times cuts deep into Palestinian territory, also came
under heavy criticism.
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- "The barrier/fence cuts off scores of Palestinian
villages from the rest of the West Bank or from their farming land.
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- "The land in these areas is among the most fertile
in the West Bank, with better water resources than elsewhere, and agriculture
constitutes the main source of income for the Palestinians."
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- Border control
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- The Israeli government has said the barrier is necessary
to prevent infiltrations by militant Palestinians intent on carrying out
attacks. The Palestinians however regard it as a bid to pre-empt the boundaries
of any future two-state settlement.
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- The report features a series of recommendations, including
an end to curfews as currently imposed and a halt to construction of permanent
structures such as the barrier which "constitute or result in permanent
restrictions on the right to freedom of movement".
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- It also called for alleged human rights abuses documented
in the report to be investigated.
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- There were also calls for Palestinian authorities to
take concrete measures to prevent anti-Israeli attacks while calling on
Palestinian militants "to put an immediate end to their policy of
killing and targetting Israeli civilians, whether inside Israel or in the
occupied territories."
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- An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson said: "We
will be studying the report and we will make a comment at a later stage."
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