The following Foreword and Report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) detail the continuing humanitarian crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territories:
Over the years, OCHA has produced reports on the humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). These have been based on thematic concerns – movement and access restrictions, forced displacement, the Barrier – or geographically-specific issues – Gaza, Area C, East Jerusalem. Fragmented Lives: Humanitarian Overview2011 represents a new approach to the humanitarian situation in the oPt, in that it brings together the key concerns oPt-wide in one document. These reflect the advocacy priorities identified by the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), the main humanitarian coordinating body for UN agencies and NGO partners in the oPt.
Overall, the HCT considers the situation in the oPt to be a protection-based crisis, resulting from ongoing conflict and occupation, a lack of respect for international law, a near complete absence of accountability and a system of system of policies that severely undermine Palestinian communities to live normal, self-sustaining lives. Were these factors removed, Palestinians have all the capacity, organisation, training and motivation to develop their economy and lives free of large scale humanitarian interventions. In 2011, the main advocacy priorities to address the above mentioned-concerns were Accountability & Third State Responsibility; Life, Liberty & Security; Forced Displacement; Movement & Access; and Humanitarian Space.
The report is structured around these priorities, with the question of accountability addressed throughout the report. In addition, concerns related to the main clusters – Health, Education, WASH and Food/Livelihood – are detailed in separate chapters. Most of the information presented here has been reflected in other OCHA documents and products. The Way Forward sections identify the immediate and longer-term actions which need to be implemented, primarily by the Government of Israel, to improve the humanitarian situation and to remedy the protection concerns.
It is planned to update the report on an annual basis and provide relevant indicators to enable the humanitarian community to monitor trends and developments in the oPt for advocacy purposes and to track developing humanitarian trends. I hope that the Humanitarian Overview will serve both as a practical advocacy tool and a comprehensive overview or ‘snapshot’ of the humanitarian situation in the oPt in a given year. As such, it should be of use not only for the humanitarian community but for all who are concerned with finding a durable solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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