UPDATE:Campaign for the Defense of:Palestinian Refugee Rights

Refugee Rights Campaign-West Bank:
Emergency Program

Palestinian refugees have been strongly affectedby Israel's military and economic policies applied to suppress the Palestinian uprising. Due to their vicinity to Israeli military installations, settlements and by-pass roads, the refugee camps of 'Askar/Nablus, 'Aida and Beit Jibrin/Bethlehem, Aqbat Jaber/Jericho, Shati, Jabalya, Rafah and Khan Younis/Gaza have become repeated targets of Israeli attacks by heavy weapons - rockets, shells, 500mm and 800mm ammunition fired from high-caliber automatic weapons, tanks, and helicopter gun-ships - in addition to attacks perpetrated by Israeli settlers which have been recorded also in al-Fawwar camp/Hebron.

Damages to family homes caused by indiscriminate Israeli shelling are especially large in the densely built-up refugee camps, where makeshift constructions are less resistant to attacks by heavy Israeli ammunition and missiles, and shock and anxiety attacks, especially among the children and elderly, spread quickly among the whole crowded camp population.

Palestinian refugees, especially camprefugees, are a landless, economically marginalized population. Owning no means of subsistence, they are completely dependent upon income from employment and labor. Israel's closure of its labor market to Palestinians, as well as restrictions on movement within the occupied territories have thus an especially devastating impact on refugee families, whose limited savings are rapidly consumed in times of unemployment. According to the UN Special Coordinator's Office in the occupied territories (UNSCO), at least 40 percent of the labor force in the 1967 occupied territories are currently unemployed, causing economic distress to 45.5 percent of the population.

It isexpected that by the end of December, the poverty rate (le ss than US 2.1 consumption perperson per day) will rise to 31.8 percent, as compared to 21.1 percent in September 2000.

Although exact figures are not yet available, it must be assumed that the poverty rate among the refugee population is even higher. UNSCO and other UN reports on the situation in the occupied territories during the period of the al-Aqsa intifada are archived on the BADIL websiteThe Emergency Program designed by BADIL and its community  partners (BADIL Friends Forum), aims to address both the urgent needs of the refugee community in the West Bank refugee camps and the ongoing need for awareness raising and mobilization for refugee rights.

BADIL's community support projects were thus designed to include: Facilitation of Camp Employment Projects:
In response to the urgent request of the Emergency Committee formed by representatives of the refugee camps in the southern West Bank (al-Fawwar, al-Arroub, Deheishe, 'Aida, Beit Jibrin), the UN Development Program (UNDP) provided US $50,000 to be paid as salaries to unemployed refugees hired for temporary infrastructure and restoration work in the camps. BADIL has provided staff to assist the Monitoring Committee with project coordination in the camps and contributed additional funds urgently required for salaries and the purchase ofwork tools and materials, which refugee organizations were unable to raise.

Since 11 November, 800 refugees who lost their previous job could thus be temporarily and partially re-employed in five-day shifts with a salary of NIS 250 (some US $62) for each shift. Based on the positive results of this pilot project, the UNDP is  considering to establish camp employment projects in additional areas of the 1967 occupied territories. BADIL encourages all Palestinian and international institutions to share in this effort.

Assistance to Camp Institutions: Community organizing and public activities in the framework of the al-Aqsa intifada have put enormous strain on the scarce resources of community institutions in the refugee camps which have hosted emergency committees and crisis centers. Aiming to facilitate the efforts of the local refugee community, BADIL provides office space, equipment, and stationary to organizations and initiatives in need.

 Data Gathering Project - Israeli Repression and the Refugee Community:
While Palestinian refugees, as an especially vulnerable and unprotected group of the  Palestinian people, are uniquely affected by Israel's military and economic repression, statistical data about the specific impact of the current crisis on Palestinian refugees is not available. BADIL has launched an effort at systematic gathering of relevant data, which will serve as a basis for future advocacy for specific international refugee protection and the implementation of Palestinian refugees' right of return, restitution and compensation.

Lobbying and Awareness-Raising on Effective International Protection and the Refugee Rights: In early October 2000,
BADIL joined the concerted effort of Palestinian and international NGOs to lobby for a rapid and efficient intervention of Arab and western governments and the United Nations, based on UN resolutions and international law. BADIL briefed the Special Rapporteur to the UN Commission on Human Rights (13-10), lobbied for an immediate Special Session of the Commission, and addressed the Emergency Arab Summit convened in Qatar (20 to 22-10). Following the Special Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (Geneva, 16 to 17- 10), BADIL presented its analysis and recommendations to UN High Commissioner Mary Robinson in the framework of her fact finding mission to Palestine (13-11).

UN Resolutions and other documentation related to the al-Aqsa intifada are archived on BADIL's website Petition for International Protection, Implementation of the Palestinian Right to Self Determination and Refugees' Right of Return signed by over 16,000: Deeply concerned by the hesitation of the international community to enforce its own law and resolutions versus the Israeli occupation, Media Alternatives on Palestine (MAP), BADIL and the BADIL Friends Forum launched a renewed appeal to UN High Commissioner Mary Robinson demanding rapid international action for the protection of Palestinian rights.

The appeal was endorsed, within nine days, by over 3000 residents and refugees - student and community activists, teachers and politicians and their unions, NGOs, and community organizations - in occupied Palestine, Jordan, and by more than 13,000 academics and professionals, Palestinian expatriates, solidarity and human rights activists and their organizations in Arab countries, Europe, Asia, and the United States. The appeal was submitted to the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights on 23 November 2000.

29 November 2000: International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People:

BADIL and the BADIL Friends Forum marked the 22nd anniversary of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People with visits to Palestinian public institutions, local authorities, and camp institutions in the southern and northern West Bank. During these visits, BADIL delegations distributed an information packet including briefs about the legal framework and models of international protection, fact sheets and press releases on Israeli repression and the popular uprising, a map of Palestinian communities depopulated and destroyed in 1948 (Salman Abu Sitta, 2000), and the Palestinian flag.

11 December 2000: Anniversary of UN Resolution 194:Palestinian Refugees' right of return, restitution and compensation, and the right to self-determination in a sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital are Palestinian rights and demands which will form the cornerstone of all future negotiations over a durable solution of the historical Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is the message which is expressed in a joint statement issued by Palestine right-of-return groups in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and in Europe and the United States, on the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of UN Resolution 194.

(The statement is archived on the BADIL website) BADIL and the BADIL Friends Forum will organize a guided tour of Bethlehem area refugee
camps that have come under heavy Israeli military attack for international press, diplomatic missions and others. This will include 'Aida Camp, where the three-story home of the Da'ajneh family was completely destroyed in an Israeli missile attack on 4 December 2000.