Refugee Protection

Escalation of Attacks on Refugee Camps
Between July and September 2001, Israel continued to escalate its campaign of state-sponsored terror against the Palestinian people temporarily reoccupying several West Bank cities, including Beit Jala (Bethlehem), Jenin, and Jericho, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries, heavy damages and looting by Israeli soldiers. During the same period, Israeli forces stepped up attacks on Palestinian refugee camps, which are considered to be protected spaces under international law, even in the case where individual combatants are found to be within the space of a refugee camp.

On 9 July, Israel demolished 14 buildings containing 25 apartments on the edge of Shu'afat refugee camp in Jerusalem. On the same day, 17 refugee shelters were destroyed near the Salah Eddin Gate in Rafah refugee camp (Block "O") in Gaza, leaving 24 families homeless and 11 refugeeswounded. On the 28 August, Israeli forces demolished another 15 homes in Rafah refugee camp leaving 140 people without shelter. Another 14 shelters were destroyed on 27 September. Numerous other camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have come under increased attacks during the last several months, including 'Aida, al-'Azza, al- Aroub, Aqbat Jaber, Deheishe, al-Far'ah, and al- Fawwar, and Khan Younis. Refugees in camps where make shift constructions are less resistant to attacks are particularly vulnerable to property damage. According to a recent survey by the Graduate Institute of Rafah camp, 10 July 2001 

 Development Studies, University of Geneva and the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center (IUED/JMCC), a greater number of households in refugee camps as compared to households outside of refugee camps were reporting damages to properties and businesses. Nearly double the number of refugee households in West Bank camps reported an increase in property damage during the first half of 2001 as compared to the first four months of the uprising. Only households in Gaza refugee camps reported a slight decrease in property damage during the same period, however, attacks in the months of July through September are likely to erase any signs of a decrease in property damage.

Deaths and Injuries
Palestinian refugees - camp refugees in particular - comprise a disproportionate number of the 690 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories between 29 September 2000 and 28 September 2001. Nearly one quarter of those killed were children below the age of 18. The same pattern holds for the 16,000 Palestinians injured by Israeli forces and settlers. As of mid-June 2001, BADIL fieldwork indicated that around 65% of Palestinians killed since September 2000 were refugees. The significant proportion of refugees among those killed is also illustrated by figures from the IUED/JMCC survey.

Breaking down the proportion of Palestinians killed by place of residence, the survey found that some 30% of those killed were from the Gaza Strip (primarily refugees given the fact that some 80% of the Strip's population are refugees registered with UNRWA), 20% from West Bank refugee camps, 10% in the West Bank outside of camps and 5% in Jerusalem.

Siege (closure) and Blockade Between January and June 2001, Palestinians reported increased problems in mobility. Overall, 84% of Palestinians surveyed by the University of Geneva/JMCC had problems in mobility, up from 79% in January. The number of refugees from West Bank refugee camps reporting problems in mobility increased by 10% during the same period. For more detailed information on freedom of movement in the occupied territories since the beginning of the intifada, see the UNSCO June report, archived on the BADIL

The proportion of injured Palestinians is also highest in the Gaza Strip outside refugee camps followed by refugees in camps in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank. These proportions are even more significant if one takes into account the population of the refugee camps in the West Bank compared to the population outside camps. Of those killed, 20% originated from a camp population in the West Bank of only 163,000 (UNRWA), while 10% originated from a population
of more than 1.7 million (PCBS). It is also significant to note that while the overall rate of deaths declined from January to June 2001, the decline among refugees in camps is only marginal by around 1% (IUED/JMCC).

The number of Palestinians killed during the al- Aqsa intifada is nearly twice the number killed during the first year of the first intifada.  While it appears that more Palestinians were injured per month during the first year of the firstintifada than during the first year of al-Aqsa intifada (1,342, PRCS), the proportion of injuries from live ammunition and metal bullets clearly shows a significant escalation of measures to suppress the uprising. Over the last 12 months live ammunition and metal bullets account for 53% of all injuries compared to 28% during the first intifada

 Increasing Poverty Levels
While the number of Palestinians in the occupied territories falling below the poverty line continues to increase, Israel's economic siege continues to exact a greater toll on Palestinian refugees. According to UNRWA, this is due to a number of factors: a large percentage of unskilled laborers with a relative lack of accumulated savings, lack of access to land-based forms of subsistence, and larger family size. As of June 2001, for example, only 1% of Palestinian households in refugee camps reported reliance on cultivation of land, as compared to 15% of villages and 8% of city dwellers (IUED/JMCC).

By June 2001, more than three-quarters of Palestinian refugee households (76.2%, PCBS) were reported as living below the poverty line, as compared to 64.9% of Palestinian households (more than 2 million persons) overall. (The poverty line for 2001 is 1,642 NIS [US$ 382] per household per month of 2 adults and four children). This figure is only slightly higher in the Gaza Strip, where 79.9% of households were reported as living below the poverty line. Prior to the outbreak of the intifada, less than a quarter (21%) of Palestinian households were living below the poverty line (UNSCO).

Rising Unemployment

Restitution and Return News Property Documentation: The Jordanian Lands and Survey Department (LSD) has finished computerising data of properties of citizens in Palestine in 1948 and 1967. (Jordan Times, 26 July 2001) Internally Displaced Palestinians: On 24 September, the Israeli security cabinet met to decide on a response to a High Court of Justice petition submitted by displaced families from the Palestinian villages of Iqrit and Biram who were expelled some 50 years ago. The cabinet will resume the debate on October 10. Members of the cabinet argued that it was not a good time to bring up the "sensitive subject" on the eve of the outbreak of the intifada. A task force set up to formulate the government's stance on the matter, headed by Cabinet secretary Gideon Sa'ar has recommended asking the High Court to reject the petition based on concerns about setting a precedent allowing displaced Palestinians to return to their villages and claims that the security situation on the border with Lebanon mitigates against the return of the displaced villagers. The families initially petitioned the High Court in February 1997 but the state has requested postponement of the hearing seven times. The latest extension ends 1 October 2001. (Ha'aretz, 25/9/01)

According to UNSCO, the political crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories since September 2000 has completely offset gains in the labor market over the last three years. Unemployment has risen by 78% since the beginning of the intifada. The adjusted unemployment rate in the occupied territories at the end of the first quarter of 2001 was 37.8% accompanied by a declining labor force participation rate (38.8%). In other words, more people are giving up looking for work.

The impact of the al-Aqsa intifada on the job market has been felt most sharply by Gazans and by refugees in camps (IUED/JMCC). Approximately one-third of the people in Gaza and in the West
Bank refugee camps lost their job since the outset of the intifada, as compared to a quarter of persons outside camps in the West Bank and one-sixth of Palestinians in Jerusalem. Refugees in camps, together with Gazans as a whole, also appear to find it more difficult to change jobs when required to do so because of the crisis. It should also be noted that the increase in households without breadwinners primarily affects the Gaza Strip and West Bank refugee camps. In the first six months of 2001 the number of households without a breadwinner in these areas more than doubled (IUED/JMCC).