November 21, 2003


 

President George W. Bush

The White House

Washington, DC

 

Dear Mr. President:

We welcome your public commitment at the Royal Banqueting House-Whitehall Palace to achieving peace in the Holy Land.  Refugees International agrees with your statement that the Palestinian leadership should adopt peaceful means to achieve the rights of their people, while Israel should not prejudice final negotiations with the placement of walls and fences and should cease the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people.

During a recent assessment in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, RI noted with concern that hardship for Palestinians, including refugees and other displaced people, has notably intensified in the year and a half since our last visit to the region.  We witnessed first-hand the impact of restrictions on movement including construction of the enclosure within the West Bank, the generally pervasive and deepening poverty, the growing number of home demolitions and subsequent displacement, increasing unmet psychosocial needs, and the on-going obstacles faced by humanitarian workers.

Israel’s first concern is security, but the barrier Israel is building within the West Bank has consequences that go well beyond protection.  The enclosure to prevent the infiltration of suicide bombers and armed militants will influence movement of the peace process.  Worse, the barrier violates international humanitarian law and threatens Palestinian communities and livelihoods.  The Israeli human rights organization B'tselem estimates that the barrier will likely cause direct harm to at least 210,000 Palestinians residing in sixty-seven villages, towns, and cities.  An estimated 25 to 30 percent of these individuals are already refugees.  Some 200,000 people in East Jerusalem will be totally isolated from the rest of the West Bank.

The wall represents the failure of the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority to establish the terms of a durable peace and of the international community to respond to violations of international humanitarian law. The sheer scale of the wall will permanently re-order the border and, in doing so, expropriate Palestinian land and other property. While there is no certainty that the barrier will stop or even curtail violence, it is already exacerbating economic fragmentation and social upheaval.  It is, in the words of Hanna Nassar, the Mayor of Bethlehem, a tragedy for generations.

Refugees International is also troubled that Israel is not living up to promises made during the visit of the Personal Humanitarian Envoy of the UN Secretary General in August 2002, to ease living conditions for Palestinians, in particular to ease their movement through checkpoints.

Agencies trying to assist the population also continue to face obstacles.  Efforts have been made to improve communication between humanitarian workers and military units to facilitate access, but in this year alone, seven UN staff members have been threatened at gunpoint at checkpoints in the West Bank.  In addition, some staff members of non-governmental agencies still do not have permits and must either stay at home or assume the many risks of traveling about without permits.

Refugees International has called on the Palestinian Authority to take immediate steps to end violence against civilians and resume negotiations towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict.  We have asked Israel to do the same and to cease violations of international law, particularly the use of collective punishment as practiced with construction of the barrier and house demolitions.

In keeping with your Whitehall Palace address, the United States, while condemning the PA for failing to stop attacks against Israel, should press the Government of Israel to honor its responsibility as an occupying power under international law and to halt construction of the barrier, while taking steps to give civilians safe and timely access to jobs, education, medical services, and food.  Responses compatible with international humanitarian law and human rights law would go a long way toward facilitating progress in the peace process.


Thank you.

 

                                                                        Sincerely,

 

 

                                                                        Kenneth H. Bacon

                                                                        President