Israeli Occupation Obstruct Issuing Permits for Palestinian Lands behind the Israeli Segregation Wall

During a working session between the Palestinians Liaison officers and their Israeli counterparts in Qalqilia Governorate that was held on September 15th, 2008, the Palestinian officers were surprised to know that the Israeli party has reneged on previous agreements vis-à-vis access of Palestinian farmers to their isolated lands behind the Racist Israeli Wall. It’s been the agreement and practice in 2007 that the relevant Palestinian municipalities and village councils would provide the Palestinian Liaison Office with a list of the farmers, their ID numbers and the gate through which they want to reach their isolated lands through. The Liaison Office would then relay the list to the Israeli side to issue the relevant permits for them. Yet, this year the Israeli Liaison Office has set impossible conditions in an attempt to reduce to a minimum Palestinian access to lands laying beyond the Racist Wall; Israeli occupation authorities have declared that Palestinian access is conditioned upon providing a proof of ownership of the land, a copy of the ID in addition to individual requests for permits. See Photo 1 

The Israeli decision is all-around negative as Israeli occupation forces have deliberately delayed issuing permits in the past. Moreover, a number of cases were recorded in which these forces would issue only one permit for a member of a family despite the fact that agricultural projects (olive harvesting, land rehabilitation, land plowing, etc) is a collective type of work that needs a large number of working hands. Also, Palestinian Liaison Office records indicated that since the beginning of the year 2008 until the 20th of September, 2008 about 500 permit requests were filed with the Israeli side. Only 193 permits were granted by the Israeli side while 155 were refused. No responses were provided for the remaining 150+ requests.

Gates in the Racist Wall in the West Bank:

Up to July 2008, there were 66 gates in the Israeli Wall constructed throughout the West Bank. Only 39 of them are “open” for Palestinians to access their lands beyond the Wall while the Palestinian usage of the remaining 27 is prohibited. 

The opened gates are classified as follows:

a- Gates used on daily basis by the Palestinians isolated behind the Wall to access the other parts of the West Bank. Part of these gates is opened for 12 continuous hours per day while other gates are opened only twice a day in pre-determined hours. All of the open gates are guarded by Israeli occupation soldiers 24 hours a day.

b- Agricultural gates that are usually opened 2 to 3 times a day for Palestinian farmers wanting to access their fields and lands west of the Racist Wall. To use these gates, Palestinians must bear with them Israeli-issued permits. These permits allow their holders to access their lands from specific gates. Of these gates there are 19 gates that are classified as “seasonal” as they are usually opened during specific seasons (such as the harvest and olive seasons). During the said seasons, these gates are opened twice or three times per day in specific hours to allow Palestinian movement. Again, Palestinian using these gates must hold an Israeli-issued permit that allows them to use specific gates.              

The gates in the Wall are distributed in accordance with the following table:

Source: Palestinian Liaison Office in Qalqilia Governorate.

Prepared by:
The Land Research Center
LRC