Introduction:
The plan authorized on June 23rd 2002 and expected to be completed by June 23rd 2003. This wall will include electrical fences, trenches and security patrols. Three parts of the wall include: a northern section, a section for Jerusalem and a southern section and is projected to run the whole 360-km of the West Bank.
The wall shall not be built within its de-facto international borders. It shall be built within the West Bank, upon seized privately owned Palestinian lands and shall annex approximately 10% of the West Bank to Israel. This wall will illegally annex 57 settlements inhabiting 303,000 Israeli settlers. About 384,918 Palestinians shall be illegally annexed to Israel, hemmed into the wall. However, Palestinians unlawfully transferred to the direct control of the Israeli State will not be granted residential status or citizenship, while Israeli settlers already enjoy full Israeli citizenship.
The wall will annex some of the most fertile lands and water sources, including in Qalqilya: the Western Aquifer system, providing 51% of the West Banks water resources as well as14 water wells in the city – some 30% of the city’s water resources.
The Northern part:
- Will run from Salem to Kfar Qassem, south of Qalqilya shall be approximately 110 km long.
- It is estimated that 1.6% of the West Bank, through this part of the wall shall be illegally confiscated and annexed to Israel. With 17 Palestinian villages separated into four different cantons. (land between the wall and Israel proper is a closed military zone)
- Rumaneh, al-Taybeh and Anin will fall between two walls close to Jenin and make up the first Bantustan with a population of 8,560.
- Nazlat ‘Issa, al-Baqa al-Sharqiyya and Barta al-Sharkiyya make up the second Bantustan with a population of 9,342.
- Tulkarem and Irtah, Izbet Shoufa, Kirbet Jabara and Faroun with a population of 45,179 Palestinians shall also be illegally annexed to Israel and surrounded by trenches to ensure their separation.
- The Forth includes Qalqilya, Hable, Ras al-Tireh, Khan Nabi ilyas, Izbat Jaloud and Ras Attiyeh, they will be completely surrounded by the wall with only one exist and entrance point, a population of 47,992.
- All Palestinian property within 60 - 100 meters of the wall shall, or has been destroyed, particularly agricultural or cultivated lands[i] and trees. Qalqilya shall be deprived of at least 15% of its municipal lands and more than 50% of its agricultural land, placing increasing pressure on a fast growing population.
- Illegal Israeli settlements shall all become a part of Israel proper.
The expected length of the southern part of the apartheid wall of 215 km will “result in Israel’s de facto annexation of 400 square kilometers (approximately 7% of the Occupied West Bank) of which more than one third is located in east Jerusalem.” This part of the wall shall annex 39 illegally built Israeli settlements to Israel, with some 270,000 settlers, and approximately 276,000 Palestinians.
Israel has confiscated some 700 dunums in order to build this southern part of the wall, with aim to envelope as many illegal Israeli settlement blocks built in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, while excluding as many Palestinians as possible. A 54 km stretch covering metropolitan Jerusalem has already been approved. However, the planned wall for Jerusalem will not only cover further illegally annexed land inhabited by 180,000 illegal Israeli settlers. It shall also include some 276,000 Palestinians. “In order to resolve this “demographic” problem.”
Impact of Israel’s wall: (Closure, curfew and economic concerns)
- Israel’s army has consistently maintained in all legal challenges to the apartheid wall that special permits shall be issued for fenced in Palestinians. Israel’s long history in using a system of permits shows a systematic abuse of this measure, consistently used as a tool of collective punishment under the all-embracing pretext of ‘security concerns.’
- This form of collective punishment will lead to widespread unemployment, poverty and hunger; denying access to education, health services and religious worship.
- The most punishing impact on closure and curfew, which shall only increase with Israel’s apartheid wall, hemming in Palestinians into Bantustans, is poverty and hunger. ‘Gazafication’ of Palestinians hemmed into Bantustans, whereby Palestinians caught in the wall will be hermetically sealed from both Israel and the West Bank, reliant on Israel to ensure their freedom of movement and their right to livelihood.
- The Physical safety of Palestinians is a major concern with restrictions of freedom of movement or access to agricultural lands.
- The existence of a closed military zone where Palestinians shall reside raises serious concerns that such people shall be targets for trigger-happy soldiers, with no access to appeal, let alone international monitors, the international media, or other means of possibly forcing Israeli soldiers to act with less impunity.
- These military orders are based on the Hague regulations whereby occupying powers assume ‘temporary’ administration of ‘publicly’ owned lands. Relying on past precedent, military orders to illegally confiscate lands is permanent.
- A security wall, including electrified fences, walls, trenches and checkpoints implies both a permanent infrastructure and a permanent structure
- In the late 1960s and 70s, military orders such as these were used to seize lands to build illegal settlements and by-pass roads on the pretext of ‘security’ needs.
- Military orders to ‘seize’ Palestinian-owned land in the West Bank have been consistently premised on the basis of an overall strategy of strengthening the Occupation.
- Human rights have been sacrificed to security. This in turn produces a greater threat to Israeli security: the hopelessness of despair which leads inexorably to suicide bombings and other acts of violence against Israelis.”
- The military orders and the construction of the wall violate basic principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. Israel has exceeded any legitimate powers of an occupying power under international humanitarian law by exercising more than a temporary, administrative role in its permanent confiscation of land and annexation of property within occupied territories for construction of the wall.
- Hague Regulations 1907 including article 53 which states: “An army of occupation can only take possession of cash, funds, and realizable securities which are strictly the property of the State, depots of arms, means of transport, stores and supplies, and generally all moveable property belonging to the state which may be used for military operations.
- Article 55: “The occupying State shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real estate, forests, and agricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct.” Article 46: Private property can not be confiscated.
- The Israeli occupying power must balance any security concerns with the interests of the Palestinian protected persons. In this respect, the apartheid wall is a wholly disproportionate, as well as unlawful measure. Moreover, Israel has not been able to explain or justify the destruction and confiscation of land and property within the occupied territory instead of within Israel’s own sovereign territory.
- Destruction and confiscation of land effectively punishes the entire population, International and humanitarian law prohibits collective punishment.
- Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory, destruction of property in occupied territories is forbidden under Article 53. It constitutes collective punishment, which is explicitly prohibited by Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. It further constitutes extra-judicial punishment and arbitrary interference with home and property. (A war crime)
- Illegal confiscation and annexation of land violates the general principle under international law of inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force, as reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 242
- 'Oslo II' of September 28, 1995, provides that 'neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations'.
- This wall designed to divide the population along racial lines by creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group; separation of Palestinian families/communities; controls on freedom of movement through the system of ID cards, curfews and closures; expropriation of landed property.
- Expropriation of landed property: Land seizures clearly fall upon racial lines in building this wall. Land is only being taken from Palestinian Arabs - not Israeli Jews –in illegal settlements built on seized Palestinian lands in the West Bank.
- Palestinians residing in the West Bank shall be dispossessed of thousands of dunums of land, including agricultural lands, in many cases, the backbone of their livelihoods.
- All persons trapped between the so-called “security-wall” and Israel or the West Bank are entirely Palestinian. It thus appears that ethnic-religious motives drove the choice of localities to place between the wall and Israel/West Bank.
- Through seizing prime agricultural lands to be used to either build the wall or as buffer zones, Israel is creating tiny cantons between the wall and Israel/West Bank. This will be significantly deprived of land and other resource access.
- On a larger scale, Palestinian Arabs will be unable to move easily from behind the wall, but Israeli settlers, living in colonial outposts all over the West Bank will not be similarly affected. Thus, the wall effectively separates two ethnic-religious groups, to the distinct disadvantage, and collective punishment of one of these groups.
- Israel’s apartheid wall clearly enforces controls on freedom of movement. The special permit system, combined with closures and curfews shall be used punitively, as demonstrated by clear precedence in the West Bank and Gaza strip, particularly throughout the latest Intifada.
Factsheet - Fair Tax Monitor 2019-2024
Date posted: February 20, 2025
By MIFTAH
Introduction
The tax system is a financial and economic policy tool through which society's goals and objectives are realized based on its intellectual philosophy and ideology. Thus, the tax system is based on certain economic, social, and political pillars and foundations that differ from one society to another, from one country to another, and in the same country from one stage to another. Taxation has become not only a source of revenue for the state, but also a social and economic function, in addition to its traditional financial function, by becoming one of the economic tools through which economic development can be achieved, addressing inflation and stagnation, redistributing incomes, and raising the standard of living of citizens to advance the national economy in general .
The analytical review of the philosophy of tax systems shows that it is based on social, financial, and economic foundations. Its social function is to redistribute wealth to ensure social justice in the state, and to use tax revenues to achieve social stability and provide social services, and social protection for marginalized, vulnerable, and poor groups. Its financial function is to secure revenues for the state treasury to cover public expenditures, while its economic function is represented by the fact that it is a major tool of the state's fiscal policy, which it uses in order to stimulate economic growth, reduce inflation levels, protect the national economy, or stimulate some economic sectors, by imposing certain taxes, tax cuts, and others.
Based on these foundations and principles, the Palestinian tax system must achieve the philosophy of taxation by maximizing revenues, protecting the national economy, and, most importantly, achieving and enforcing social justice for all social groups . And responding to gender issues.
In 2024, the FairTax Monitor-FTM in the Palestinian Territories was updated, complementing the previous monitor’s data, which was published in 2018. The current update focuses on the years 2019-2024 and presents a set of conclusions and facts, the most important of which are:
To view the Full Factsheet as PDF
Factsheet on the status of Palestinian digital rights for CSOs and consequences of the genocide
Date posted: January 15, 2025
By MIFTAH
As part of its work in the field of public and digital diplomacy to expand global communication outreach in support of the Palestinian cause, MIFTAH conducted an assessment survey on the cognitive capabilities of civil society organizations (CSO) in the West Bank, including Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, on digital rights and its implementation.
This survey reflects the complex reality of digital rights in occupied Palestine and assesses how prepared CSOs are in dealing with growing digital challenges, especially after the 2023 genocide. The survey sheds light on the gaps in digital knowledge and the infrastructure for digital security, which is a particular challenge, hampering the ability of institutions to protect their data and effectively carry out their role.
The survey is based on the descriptive methodology, including questionnaires from 55 institutions in the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, in addition to in-depth interviews with six digital rights, women’s and other institutions working in the Gaza Strip. The qualitative data was analyzed using advanced tools such as Nvivo and SPSS.
Overview
According to the outcomes of the survey, CSOs target various sectors, with women being the most targeted sector at 43.6%, followed by children, at 16.4%, the elderly at 12.7% and youth at 10.9%. Meanwhile, persons with disabilities were targeted at 9.1% and media persons at 7.3%. Furthermore, the results of the survey showed that 34.5% of CSOs target all sectors indiscriminately, thus reflecting the comprehensiveness of the sample.
The scope of the work of Palestinian institutions is distributed within the districts as follows: Ramallah, at 50.9% of institutions, Hebron, at 40%, Jerusalem at 34.5% and Nablus at 38.2%. It also extends to the Bethlehem, Jenin, Tulkarm and Salfeet governorates at 29.1% each and the northern Jordan Valley at 32.7%, Jericho and the Jordan Valley at 27.3% and Qalqilya at 25.5%.
In the Gaza Strip, the work of CSOs in northern Gaza stood at 40%, Khan Younis at 29.1% Gaza City at 40%, Rafah at 25.5% and Deir Al Balah at 27.3%.
The locations of Palestinian CSO included in the survey were distributed among cities, camps and villages, with the majority of CSOs concentrated in cities, at 74.5%. Villages were the headquarters of 16.4% of the institutions while only 9.1% were based on camps. This distribution reflects the urban concentration of CSOs and highlights the need for increased presence in rural areas and in camps, to promote inclusiveness and access to marginalized and vulnerable sectors.
The size of Palestinian CSOs participating in this survey varied in terms of the number of employees. The survey showed that 27.3% of institutions include from one to 10 employees, while 16.4% have 11 to 15 employees. The largest majority of CSOs, 41.8% had between 16 and 30 employees while only 14.5% of institutions had over 31 employees. This distribution reflects the variety in size of CSOs, with most institutions either small or medium size, which is compatible with the survey sample.
To view the full Factsheet as PDF
Sexual violence as a weapon of genocide
Date posted: October 09, 2024
By MIFTAH
Background
Since the beginning of its illegal occupation in 1967, Israel has detained over 1 million Palestinians, who are tried in Israeli military courts with a conviction rate close to 100%. Israel also detains Palestinians with no charge or trial for an indefinite period under so-called “administrative detention”. This policy of mass arbitrary arrest is one of the tools used to maintain Israel's illegal occupation, apartheid regime and settler-colonial project.
To date, over 10,400 Palestinians have been arbitrarily arrested since October, 2023. The conditions of Palestinian prisoners have significantly deteriorated since the beginning of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, and imprisoned Palestinians are being subjected to torture, starvation, violent cell raids, including with tear gas, deliberate medical negligence, denial of food, water, sanitary pads and sanitation, as well as denial of lawyers and family visits.
Despite the absolute prohibition of torture and ill-treatment under international law, Israeli occupation forces and prison authorities employ various torture and ill-treatment techniques against almost all Palestinian political prisoners and detainees, including women and children, leaving grave physical and psychological damage. Israeli prison authorities, occupation forces and interrogators feel emboldened to commit such acts of torture with full impunity, knowing that neither the complicit Israeli legal system nor the international community will hold them accountable.
While sexual violence against Palestinian women and men has long been a tactic of torture at Israeli military checkpoints, during raids on their own homes and inside prisons, it has rapidly increased since the start of the genocide in Gaza. Palestinian women are often hesitant to share such stories, in fear of the associated social stigma, something which Israel exploits, and also due to the belief that Israel’s crimes will go unpunished.
Access the full factsheet here.
