Oxfam International

A survey commissioned by international development agency Oxfam International and released today, highlights how the suspension of Western aid and Israel’s refusal to transfer money owed to the Palestinian Authority (PA) has led to grave humanitarian consequences for Palestinians. The survey by the Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion (PCPO) found that more than four out of five of the 677 families interviewed have seen a drop in their income following the year long boycott of the Palestinian Authority. Half of all the families reported losing more than half their income.

International agency Oxfam is calling on donor governments, meeting in Stockholm Friday, to resume international aid to the Palestinian Authority in order to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian Territories. Oxfam believes that the Palestinian Authority stands to lose more than $1 billion following the suspension of aid earlier this year and Israel withholding Palestinian tax revenue, according to UN and World Bank estimates. Oxfam says that Palestinians are being pushed into deep poverty as a result. Hundreds of thousands of people have been left without an income. Rubbish is piling in the streets, sewage is overflowing.

EU foreign ministers have agreed on a freeze of EU aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, according to newswire reports. Ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday (10 April) decided to continue the European Commission’s temporary suspension of payments to the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian territories. The commission announced the suspension on Friday (7 April). In a letter to the Middle East Quartet, Oxfam warned that Palestinians are on the edge of survival. It said that “one in four people depend on aid. Three in four live on 2 dollars a day. Their plight will worsen, if donors stop giving aid to the Palestinian Authority.”

In a situation of ongoing violence and the sharply deteriorating humanitarian situation, civilians are now paying the highest price in growing numbers because of the escalating violence in Gaza, according to aid agency Oxfam International. Oxfam believes that civilians caught up in armed conflict have every right to be protected, as enshrined in the Geneva Conventions. Oxfam’s Regional Manager for the Middle East, Adam Leach, says: “Protecting civilians should not be a by-product of a political process but intrinsic to it. Their protection could strengthen the political process, safeguard civil society and reverse the decline in the security situation.”

Oxfam International today welcomes the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling on Israel’s separation barrier as a key step towards improving the protection of civilians and enhancing prospects for peace. The ICJ ruling says that the separation barrier violates international humanitarian law. Oxfam recommends that the construction of the barrier should stop and that sections inside the West Bank be dismantled and removed. Oxfam director Jeremy Hobbs says: “Today’s ruling is a step in the right direction but the international community must take further action now. We are urgently calling for the protection of civilians.

A new report by Oxfam International calls for the protection of civilians to be put at the top of the international agenda. The report calls for the Quartet, Israel and the Palestinian Authority to act urgently to reduce the impact of conflict on civilians. “The international community has a legal obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law,” the aid agency said. It also calls for end to the culture of impunity - with those who commit inhuman and criminal acts being brought to justice. “The international community is a like a rabbit caught in the headlights, paralysed by events as they unfold. It can and must do more to protect people on both sides - and start to ease the suffering.”