Oxfam Briefing Paper

62

Protecting
Civilians
A cornerstone of Middle
East peace
Civilians are paying a high price for the escalating violence in
Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories. Hundreds of
innocent lives are being lost and hundreds of thousands
deprived of their basic rights as the security situation
deteriorates. A solution to the conflict can only lie in a political
process. In the meantime, civilians caught up in armed conflict
are guaranteed the right to protection under international
humanitarian law. They cannot afford to wait for a negotiated
settlement. Moreover, their protection will strengthen the path to
peace and help to reduce poverty.

The international community, through member governments of

the Quartet (the EU, USA, UN, and Russia) and governments in
the region, must act now and fulfil the obligations under
international law to ensure the right of civilians to protection.
Oxfam is calling on the Quartet to convene an emergency
meeting with the Israeli Government and Palestinian National
Authority to ensure that ordinary people on both sides are
protected.
Preface
Oxfam International and its affiliates have been working with poor and
marginalised communities in the occupied Palestinian Territories since 1949,
and in Israel since the 1960s. We are deeply concerned at the impact of the
conflict on Israeli and Palestinian civilians, on our programmes and those of
our Israeli and Palestinian partner organisations, and the effect of the conflict
on the wider region. Oxfam believes that the protection of civilians will
ultimately only come through a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis based
on UN resolutions 242 and 338, which call for Israeli withdrawal from territory
occupied since 1967. Oxfam believes that civilians caught up in the conflict
cannot afford to wait for a political solution, however; they need protection
now. Oxfam reaffirms the right of Israel and a viable, sovereign Palestinian
state to exist within secure borders. This briefing paper is one of a series in
which our primary concern is for the Government of Israel (GoI), the
Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and the international community
to act urgently to mitigate the impact of conflict on poor people and to
provide effective protection to civilians living under conflict.
In Foundations for Peace: Urgent Steps to Address the IsraeliPalestinian
Conflict (March 2002), Oxfam International called on all parties to take steps
to reverse the long-term damage that will affect the livelihoods of the poorest
and most marginalised people in Palestine and Israel for decades to come
1
and to protect the rights of civilians under international law.
In Forgotten Villages: Struggling to Survive Under Closure in the West Bank
(September 2002), we documented the impact of the Israeli policy of closure
on vulnerable rural communities living in the occupied Palestinian Territories.
Protecting Civilians (May 2004) urges the international community with the
GoI and PNA to put the protection of civilians first, according to their
obligations under international humanitarian law. It proposes that an external
mechanism be found to protect civilians in the occupied Palestinian
Territories and to improve the humanitarian situation. Safeguarding the lives
and livelihoods of Palestinians and Israelis will enhance the prospects for
peace and a renewed political process, as well as regional and global
security.
This paper is based on detailed, verifiable, and objective research carried out
by a range of reputable organisations, whose principal concern is the welfare
of the people of the region and a just and sustainable solution to the conflict.
It documents the violence inflicted on civilians by Israelis and Palestinians
and the suffering experienced by people on both sides. It is based on
Oxfams direct experience with poor communities and our work with partners
in the occupied Palestinian Territories

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 1

Summary
The IsraeliPalestinian conflict has claimed nearly 4000 lives since October
2000. Families in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories have
been torn apart as their loved ones have had their lives cut short. Nearly
2
3000 Palestinians, a majority of whom are unarmed civilians, have been
killed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and more than 600 Israeli civilians
have died as victims of Palestinian terrorism, in addition to the 265 Israeli
3
security-force personnel who have been killed. At least 25,000 Palestinians
4
and 5467 Israelis have been injured, and Palestinians have died because
curfews and the checkpoints imposed by the Israeli military around their
towns or villages have prevented them from receiving medical attention.
Thousands more have had their homes destroyed.
The current violence is taking place against the background of Israels 37-
year military occupation of the Palestinian Territories, and the breakdown of
the Oslo peace process.
Israels separation barrier, the stated aim of which is to prevent Palestinian
suicide bombers reaching Israel, is now limiting the access of more than half
a million West Bank Palestinians to their land, livelihoods, and water. Fear
has become a part of everyday life for ordinary people everywhere.
Moreover, the majority of the 3.8 million Palestinians in the occupied
Palestinian Territories, as well as a significant percentage of the Israeli
population, live in poverty as a direct result of the conflict.
Civilians are more vulnerable than ever before in the current climate of
violence. Yet the protection of civilians is a central obligation of states in the
5
law of war (also called international humanitarian law, or IHL). Under IHL,
civilian protection means that people have the right to have their basic
needs met as well as to be protected from personal violence. All parties
have committed grave abuses of human rights. The Israeli government has
failed to fulfil its obligations towards the occupied population; the Palestinian
Authority has failed to defend civilians and to stop the violent actions of the
extremist groups. The international community has also failed to ensure
respect for the rules of international humanitarian law, prejudicing the
prospects for a just and peaceful resolution to the conflict. A political solution
based on international law is required to bring about a sustainable and just
peace. However, ordinary Palestinians and Israelis cannot afford to wait for
one. They need protection now.
Fresh thinking is required to change this situation, and Oxfam is calling for
urgent action to be taken by the international community to ensure
protection for civilians on both sides. The effective protection of civilians
is essential for establishing peace through a political process that must lead
to an end of occupation and the creation of a viable, sovereign Palestinian
state.
Several models of international action exist already. All put the protection of
civilians first, under international humanitarian law. Some have been
successfully deployed in other conflicts. We suggest some ideas and models
for consideration in the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. Oxfam does not commit
itself to any particular model; only to the principle that in armed
conflicts, international humanitarian law should be respected and

2 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

civilians protected. We believe that their protection will, in turn,
increase support for a peaceful settlement and marginalise those who
wish to pursue violence. It would also greatly enhance the prospects for
regional peace and global security. The application of these models needs
urgent discussion and implementation by the GOI, the PNA, and member
governments of the EU and UN via the Quartet. This would demonstrate that
members of the Quartet and other governments are acting according to their
responsibilities under Common Article One of the Geneva Conventions.
Oxfam is calling on these key players to meet around the negotiating
table without delay, to decide what action to take in order to protect
civilians on both sides and to start to put an end to the suffering.

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 3

1 Protected by law
Civilians, whose protection is central to international humanitarian
law (IHL),6 have never been more at risk in the IsraeliPalestinian
conflict than today. The current violence is taking place against the
background of Israels 37-year military occupation of the West Bank
and Gaza. In the absence of a political process, the violence is
compounding the poverty now experienced by the majority of the 3.8
million Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian Territories, depriving
them of their basic needs for survival, and for many, denying them
their right to life. Raids by the Israel Defence Force (IDF) into high-
density civilian areas in the West Bank and Gaza, using
disproportionate force, result daily in the death and injury of
Palestinian civilians. Excesses of the IDF have been amply
documented, for example by the Department of State of the United
States Government.7
Palestinian extremist groups send suicide bombers to target and kill
civilians inside Israel. Armed Israeli settlers in the occupied
Palestinian Territories threaten and attack their Palestinian
neighbours, and their farms, olive groves, and water sources.
Palestinians target settlers. The costs of the conflict in the occupied
Palestinian Territories are significantly impoverishing vulnerable
groups in Israel, as funds are diverted away from welfare budgets for
security and military purposes (see section 4).
The ethical duty to protect civilians on both sides is intimately linked
to the prospects for peace. The way in which the conflict is fought
can either make peace easier, or more difficult; the worse the conduct
of conflict, the harder it is to make peace. Commitment to civilian
protection could strengthen civil society, in which all participate,
allow the voices of non-violence and peace to be heard, and
marginalise those bent on violence.

Israel Defence Force excesses

It is estimated that between 25968 and 28139 Palestinians died in the
period October 2000 to 10 March 2004. Estimates of those injured
range from 25,34710 to 41,000.11 The Palestinian Human Rights
Monitoring Group reports that 486 children (255 of them below the
age of 15) were killed by IDF soldiers up to 29 February 2004.
While recognising the difficulty for Israeli soldiers of distinguishing
between combatant and civilian in some circumstances, the tactics
used by the IDF to find and kill extremists have frequently breached
fundamental tenets of international humanitarian law. IDF
operations cause disproportionate harm to civilians, and in many

4 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

cases destroy objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian
population12 (for example, water tanks and pipes in Palestinian
villages which were repaired or built by Oxfam water teams and by
partner organisations.) The deaths of bystanders and residents who
venture to their windows at the sound of shooting are all too
frequent.
On 7 March 2004, Israeli forces with heavy military vehicles and
aircraft moved into Al-Nusseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip,
which has been cut off from Israel by a security fence since 1994.
Israel described the action as a pinpoint strike against the terrorist
infrastructure, unrelated to the forthcoming withdrawal.13 They used
one of the residents to walk in front of soldiers as a human shield as
they searched three civilian residences. Soldiers set up sniper
positions on the top floors of the properties. Oxfam partner, the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PHCR) observed that Israeli
troops opened fire randomly into the streets of the camp, including
from the positions taken in the three houses. Eyewitnesses reported
that Israeli helicopters flying overhead also opened fire in the area. 14
Six hours later, 10 Palestinian militants and four children had been
killed, and more than 80 civilians (26 of them children) injured, some
critically.
In other attacks, the IDF has caused huge destruction of personal
property.15 Between 9 and 11 October 2003, Israeli forces invaded
Rafah town on the southern border of the Gaza Strip. A sweeping
raid by air and land, Israel said the operation aimed to uncover
tunnels being used to smuggle weapons across the EgyptGaza
border. Israeli forces demolished 120 homes without permitting
16
residents to remove their belongings, leaving 1240 people
homeless.17 Oxfam partner, the Palestinian Hydrology Group (PHG),
reported that Rafah refugee camp experienced extensive destruction
of its water and waste-water networks which cut the supply of water
to these and other areas in the camp, 18 causing sewage to flow into
the streets and to mix with the water network. Due to a curfew
imposed on the camp, the local maintenance team could not reach all
of the main valves in the water network. These attacks, which
collectively punish the Palestinian civilian population, create only
hardship and bitterness, and can only undermine hope for future
reconciliation and peace.19
Most recently, the bulldozing of many Palestinian houses in Rafah 20
has been permitted by the Israeli High Court, but has attracted
widespread international condemnation, including from the US
Secretary of State Colin Powell: We know Israel has a right for self-
defence, but the kind of actions they are taking in Rafah with
destruction of Palestinian homes, we oppose21

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 5

International humanitarian law puts clear restraints on the occupying
powers use of force, requiring that civilians be protected both
individually and collectively from disproportionate violence used on
the grounds of military necessity. The Government of Israel has
justified such attacks through its own interpretation of what military
necessity means in IHL. While we believe Israel has the right to act
to defend itself and its citizens, we do not see that its operations in
Gaza in the last few days serve the purposes of peace and security,
John Cunningham, US Deputy Ambassador to the UN speaking on
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 20 May 2004. Oxfam, like
others, believes that the interpretation of the GoI is frequently carried
too far.
Javier Solana, in a statement from the EU 19 May 2004, said, I am
deeply distressed by the recent Israeli action in Gaza which appears
to have left a large number of casualties among Palestinian civilians,
including children. I condemn such indiscriminate actions. The
steadily mounting death toll and the continuing destruction of
houses in Gaza cannot but disturb all those who want to promote a
settlement in the Middle East. This is not the way to fight terrorism
effectively, nor to prepare for a successful disengagement from Gaza
in the conditions defined by the (diplomatic) Quartet.
The primary duty for ensuring the protection of the occupied civilian
population according to IHL rests with the Israeli State. Yet only a
handful of Israeli soldiers have ever been charged with unlawfully
killing unarmed civilians or bystanders. This culture of impunity, in
which the deaths of foreign activists and journalists have also
occurred in the last three years, is a grave violation of international
humanitarian law.

Growing Palestinian lawlessness

Between October 2000 and 10 March 2004, at least 870 Israelis were
killed,22 of whom 605 were civilians, 104 of them under the age of 18,
and 267 members of the Israeli security forces.23 The number of Israeli
civilians injured, many very seriously, between 29 September 2000
and 1 May 2004 is at least 5467. 24
As noted in a report of Mdecins du Monde, the violent acts
conducted by the armed Palestinian groups mainly affect civilians.25
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has consistently failed to
stop the activities of the Palestinian extremist groups, who recruit
suicide bombers to target civilians within Israel, which is therefore a
very grave violation of international humanitarian law. Unarmed
settlers in the occupied Palestinian Territories are also guaranteed
their safety under international humanitarian law. Their safety has
been seriously compromised by the legal status of the settlements,

6 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

and by attacks by some armed settlers against Palestinian civilians,
but this does not reduce the unarmed settlers rights as civilians, or
the PNAs responsibility towards them.
The capacity of the PNA ministries to operate has been seriously
reduced by Israels destruction of Palestinian government buildings
and security infrastructure. Many institutions have all but collapsed.
Israeli checkpoints and closures throughout the occupied Palestinian
Territories have prevented Palestinian government staff from being
able to carry out their work. Palestinian police are unable to carry
arms.
Nevertheless, the PNA has consistently failed to help Palestinians
who need protection from others within their own society. In 2003,
there were at least 48 cases of death by people taking the law into
their own hands and the misuse of firearms in the occupied
Palestinian Territories.26 The security services failed to form credible
investigative committees to follow up these incidents and to hold
those responsible to account.27 Many Palestinians have been shot
dead in public without trial for being suspected collaborators with
Israel.28 The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group reports a
steep rise in the number of murders arising from crime or family
feuds.
Recognising a growing deterioration in law and order, Palestinian
Prime Minister Ahmad Qureia announced in March 2004 that his
government had decided to tackle the chaos that is spreading in the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank. But he faces the serious fragmentation
that is occurring among armed extremist groups and within the
PNA, and struggles with a climate of tension in which both
incitement and restraint are at odds with each other across the
different factions.
Elections at all levels, delayed for years, should take place according
to electoral law, despite the difficult circumstances, to allow the
Palestinian public a voice and a chance to resolve the political
impasse among themselves.

International law and the political process:

protection is a right, not a reward
International humanitarian law is not to be tacked on to a political
process, but should be intrinsic to it. It is the basis for fundamental
rights during war, and not a prize for good behaviour to be awarded
at the end of hostilities. Safeguarding human rights not only helps to
protect civilians and reduce suffering, but also lends legitimacy to the
peace process and those conducting it, and is likely to make it more
sustainable. As Human Rights Watch points out, standards defined
in IHL provide a useful tool for providing impartial definitions of

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 7

behaviour, benchmarks of good practice, and well-documented
comparative experience.29 All parties and especially the Quartet,
Israelis, and Palestinians must ensure compliance with IHL by all
sides.
Unilateral plans, such as Israels plan to withdraw from Gaza and to
annex the five largest blocks of West Bank settlements, cannot
abrogate Palestinian rights under international law. There is no
substitute for a negotiated agreement founded in international law,
which although pragmatic, respects the rights of both peoples. The
Road Map, which remains to date the peace process officially
supported by the international community, is at odds with IHL in
terms of its overarching logic; it confuses principles of IHL and
human rights with the specific steps required of each party. Actions
cited in the Road Map text such as deportations, attacks on civilians
... are prohibited in IHL, and some are war crimes. They cannot be
elements for negotiation, or be bargained away as part of the
reciprocal steps required by each party in the Road Map.
Civilian protection on either side must not be bargained for. Oxfam
contends that a fundamental requirement is to privilege the
protection of civilians above all other considerations, whether or
not political progress is made in the Road Map or any other process.

8 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

2 The separation barrier 30

The separation barrier that is being constructed by Israel to stop

Palestinian suicide bombers entering Israel is supported by 84 per
cent of the Israeli Jewish population.31 This wide public support for
the barrier crosses the political spectrum. Seventy per cent of Israelis
believe the barrier can protect Israeli citizens by significantly
reducing the number of attacks inside Israel. However, while the
barrier is making Israelis feel more secure, it is greatly increasing the
suffering of Palestinians.
Afaf M. from Ras Tira village was seven months pregnant and on her way
to the doctor in Qalqilya when she was refused entry at the checkpoint.
Suffering from high blood pressure, she started to walk through the trees
around the checkpoint, but delivered the baby, stillborn, on her way.
Because of the barrier, she can no longer get to Qalqilya for medical
appointments. If one of our children becomes ill, we start worrying, she
says. Her relatives cannot help her, as they live in villages on the other side
of the barrier.
Oxfam interview, July 2003, Ras Tira village

A closed zone
Started in June 2002, the construction of the first 180km of the barrier,
involving the confiscation of 107 square km of land, 32 has
demonstrated that it does not just separate Palestinians from Israelis.
Ninety percent of the barrier is being built inside the West Bank,
trapping approximately 115,000 Palestinians in 53 villages into what
Israel calls a 'seam zone' between the barrier and the Green Line (the
1949 armistice line that divides the West Bank and Israel). The barrier
itself is sometimes a series of trenches, barbed wire, electronic fences,
and security-patrol roads, spanning 60m to 100m. At other times, it is
an 8m-high concrete wall with armed concrete turrets, cameras, and
infrared sensors. It is constructed up to 20km inside the West Bank in
places, looping around Israeli settlements to keep them contiguous
with Israel.
The barrier is creating enclaves of an additional 148,000 Palestinian
residents of 28 villages33 who will be entirely circled by the barrier
(see map at the end of this document). New regulations issued by the
Israeli military on 2 October 2003 require all Palestinian residents in
the seam zone (comprising 14.5 per cent of the total area of the West
Bank34) to apply for permits to continue to live in their houses, farm
their land, and to travel. Teachers, farmers, or traders wanting to
enter the area from the eastern side to gain access to their jobs and
services must now also apply for permits. This applies to 400,000

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 9

people.35 When complete, the barrier will be double the length of the
Green Line.

Livelihoods under threat from the barrier

For the farmers and residents of the closed zone, life is grinding to a
halt. Many are becoming dependent on food aid, unable to farm,
travel to work, or earn an income. Traditionally, communities living
on or close to the Green Line in the fertile north West Bank had the
best access to food, water, and well-paid jobs in Israel. Palestinian
traders sold their produce in vibrant border markets to Jewish and
Palestinian citizens of Israel, who found it cheaper than Israeli
produce.
The barrier has directly reversed this situation. With the boundary
with Israel fenced off, legal trade with Israelis is no longer an option,
markets have collapsed, and permits for entry into Israel are almost
impossible to get. In addition, it has created boundaries between
Palestinian communities, preventing internal trade. In Nazlat Isa, a
northern West Bank village near the Green Line, 200 shops and six
houses were demolished to make way for the barrier. Oxfam partner,
the Palestinian Hydrology Group, went to look at the effect of the
barrier on the people.36
Whilst we were talking with the people, a man called Bassem H. lay down
at the foot of the wall and started to call someone on the other side. Then I
saw a bundle of green onions coming out of a hole six inches wide in the
bottom of the wall. The barrier divides Nazlat Isa, splitting families.
For Bassems family, the holes left for water drainage have now
become a means of survival. I used to sell vegetables to people who now
live behind the wall, he said. I have five children. When they built this
wall, I lost my income and there is no market here. Therefore, I let my eldest
son live there, and everyday I buy him the vegetables here, which I then pass
through this hole as Ive shown you. He sells these vegetables on a cart, and
this is how we manage our life through this hole. This hole in the wall is our
income now.
Communities on the Green Line are the new poor families who
before closure had incomes from jobs in Israel, but now lack access to
welfare available to the chronic poor.37 A UN Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) study found that the highest levels of food
insecurity in the West Bank can be traced along the path of the
barrier, west of Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Salfit, and Ramallah. 38
Water remains a critical issue for many Palestinians. The unresolved
political issues relating to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian
Territories has meant a continuous degradation of the water-supply
infrastructure over 37 years. Israelis control and utilize 89 per cent of
the total water sources available,39 and consumption by Israelis and

10 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

settlers is six times higher than that of Palestinians in the West Bank
and Gaza.40 In spite of an Oslo II agreement to increase the annual
supply of water to the occupied Palestinian Territories by 28.6m cm
(million cubic metres) per year, in reality the amount of water
allocated since 1967 has not increased to match population growth,
and thus falls short of meeting basic needs. The actions of the IDF
and of Israeli settlers in the West Bank have seriously damaged the
water infrastructure of many communities during the second
Intifada.
Oxfams experience in providing water to local communities in the
West Bank has revealed that the construction of the barrier is now
compounding this situation by the further large-scale confiscation
and destruction of water resources and infrastructure. In the first
phase of construction from Jenin to Qalqilya, 26 groundwater wells
with a total discharge of 3.6m cm per year have been confiscated;41
another 14 are threatened for demolition in the seam zone,42 and
Israeli bulldozers have damaged or destroyed 35,000m of pipes.
Households not connected to a network rely on rain and spring
water stored in cisterns in the rainy season, and buy water from
tankers in the summer.43 Those trapped on the west side of the
barrier now depend entirely on tankered water. Ten cubic metres of
tankered water costs up to $23, and renders many income-less
families debts insurmountable. The increasing cost of transport to
negotiate checkpoints has pushed up the price of tankered water by
as much as 80 per cent. Many communities can no longer afford the
water they need. The separation barrier highlights how Israels
pursuit of security for its own citizens undermines the security, in the
broadest sense, of its Palestinian neighbours.

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 11

3 Palestinian exhaustion
There are signs that the deterioration of the humanitarian situation
has accelerated in the last year, particularly since the Road Map
negotiations came to a halt in August 2003. Palestinians remain
resilient in trying to pursue their daily lives, in spite of the 730
checkpoints, roadblocks, and ditches placed in their way. 44 However,
the coping mechanisms used by communities, which we examined in
Forgotten Villages in 2002, are now showing signs of strain. The most
vulnerable Palestinian people are now totally dependent on charity,
having sold everything they can to stay alive. Many are in a cycle of
debt. Many of those who were previously able to survive without it,
are now dependent on food aid. Their ability to recover should the
situation improve is compromised by their desperate attempts to
survive today.45
According to the FAO, 40 per cent of people in a society that should
be self-sufficient in food are now dependent on food aid. Food
insecurity is a reality for 1.4 million people and a near constant worry
for an additional 1.1 million people who are under threat of
becoming food insecure should current conditions persist.46 The two
main causes are man-made: lack of access to food and declining
incomes, both of which are a direct result of the checkpoints,
closures, and the separation barrier. Per capita income fell 23 per cent
in both 2001 and 2002, resulting in 60 per cent of the population
dropping below the poverty line of US$2.10 per day (World Bank
definition) in early 2003.
One widespread survival technique is to reduce spending on food.
The Palestinian Central Bureau for Statistics found that 51 per cent of
households reduced the quantity of food consumed, and 63 per cent
reduced the quality of food.47 Families have also cut back on
education, health, household maintenance, and social life, either
completely or to a point where they can cut back no further.
In the research of Oxfam partners, insecurity and despair emerge as
the dominant themes of Palestinian life. High levels of stress were
found in all West Bank Palestinian cities after the Israeli military
incursions in 2002, by a survey conducted by the Institute of
Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, a partner of
Oxfam.48 It documented great fear among children, bed-wetting,
uncontrolled shivering, lack of sleep, crying, loss of appetite,
exhaustion, disagreements between the family and neighbours, and
the feeling of insecurity and the inability to protect ones family.49
The family unit, one of the strengths of Palestinian society, is
seriously strained. The further Palestinian society declines, and the

12 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

longer it is deprived of its basic rights, the more distant the prospect
of recovery becomes.
This despair is now being consolidated not only by grave violations
of human rights and the destruction of the infrastructure needed for
survival, but also by the continuation of episodes of re-invasion and
curfew as well as closures and siege so strict that they preclude
possibilities for rehabilitation and reconstruction.50
Israeli military incursions devastate daily life. Officially for the
purpose of tracking down Palestinian gunmen, they happen
without warning. They entail house searches and arrests in the
middle of the night. They mean house demolitions, of which there
were 8000 between September 2000 and March 2003.51 They mean
innocent casualties due to the unpredictability of gunfire, especially
in the narrow alleyways of refugee camps. Oxfam funded a group of
young people to lead a study on the role of youth in Palestinian
society, prompted partly by reports that 43 per cent of all Palestinians
killed in the occupied Palestinian Territories during the second
Intifada have been people between the ages of 15 and 26.52

Every day is a crisis

After three years of curfew, closure, and almost nightly raids by Israeli
soldiers, the strain is starting to show on Randa R., a mother of four and an
educated middle-class doctor. Normally youd find her at her busy municipal
clinic treating patients. Now she is sitting in her darkened apartment, on
sick leave herself, due to stress.
Israeli soldiers come into town every night and sometimes in the day. We
live under constant stress. There are no gunmen in my house, but it doesnt
matter to the Israelis. They raid and they search. If someone throws a stone
at them from this building, they could just order everyone out and destroy
the building.
If the Israelis come into town in the day, I have to think of three things.
First: where are the kids? They are all at separate schools, so I have to run
round in the car collecting them. Secondly, I have to ask myself do we have
enough vegetables? We might be under curfew for days, so I have to think
about how we will eat.
Thirdly, I think: Where is my husband? I try to reach him on the mobile
phone, but its usually jammed because everyone is trying to find out where
their children and husbands are.
Living like this is living in a crisis every day. You are always on the edge.
You dont know that is going to happen next. Normal life is not possible. All
Palestinians want is a normal life, the right to have a job, employment, an
income.
Interview conducted by Oxfam, 25 March 2004, Nablus

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 13

Dilemmas for the international community
International agencies, including Oxfam, have faced repeated and
serious restrictions in delivering assistance to the Palestinian
community. On 1 April 2004, the UN took the unprecedented step of
suspending its food-aid operations in Gaza, on which more than
600,000 people depend. Israel refuses to allow local UN staff to pass
through the Erez checkpoint into Gaza in their vehicles, thereby
forcing them to cross the border in exposed areas, which Peter
Hansen, Commissioner General of UNRWA, says creates
unacceptable risk and danger. The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) cut most of its 2002 food-aid programme at the end
of 2003, deeming it no longer an appropriate response to the
situation.
The international community is bearing the huge costs of Israels
occupation. The World Bank has argued that the donor community
cannot spend its way out of the crisis. If donor disbursements were
doubled to US$2bn in 2003 and 2004, poverty would fall by only 7
per cent. In contrast, if internal closures were lifted and exports
facilitated, Palestinian GDP would surge by 21 per cent in 2003 and
poverty would fall by 15 per cent by the end of 2004.53

14 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

4 The cost to the Israelis
Fear of suicide bombers permeates all aspects of life in Israel. The
attacks organised by Palestinian extremist groups are indiscriminate
and brutal. They have killed foreign workers and Palestinian Israelis
as well as Jewish Israelis. Parents worry for their children going to
school or university on the bus. Young peoples social life is restricted
out of concern for their safety. Normal life is dependent on a heavily
armed security guard presence on the beaches, outside the
supermarket, at the entrance to cinemas, shopping malls, and
national parks. Israeli towns near Gaza live in fear of attacks by
extremists using crude unguided missiles called Qassams.
The conflict is affecting Israeli civilians in another way: the poorest
and most vulnerable sectors of Israeli society are suffering serious
consequences from the governments prioritisation of national
security over social welfare. The government states that its major
priority is the war against terrorism. It has channeled billions of
dollars into maintaining the occupation of the Palestinian Territories,
the settlements, and the physical barriers that prevent Palestinian
movement. The Central Bank of Israel said on 31 March 2004 that the
military operation in the occupied Palestinian Territories since the
start of the Intifada in October 2000, cost the country between $7bn
and $9bn.54 This includes the construction of the separation barrier,
which costs $4.7m per km, and in 2003 alone, approximately $222m.55
As a result, funding going into the Israeli welfare system has been
drastically reduced.
In 2002, minimum-income benefits were cut by 30 per cent, affecting
160,000 adults who live below the Israeli poverty threshold (a
monthly income of $529 for an adult, $860 for a couple, $1247 for a
family of four), as defined by the government-appointed National
Insurance Institute (NII). In addition, all Israeli families suffered a 15
per cent cut in their child-support benefit, directly affecting 2,100,000
children.56 In a shrinking economy with increasing unemployment
and a collapsing welfare system, the 34 per cent of the population
defined as poor are surviving in tough conditions, and have little
chance to invest in the future. Dr Yigal Ben-Shalom, the NIIs director
general, declared supplemental income allowances provided by the
NII are not enough for subsistence.57 There is a growing number of
soup kitchens in the country, as a way to feed the Israeli poor.

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 15

Investment in a missile target: life in an Israeli development town
Last year we suffered a lot from Qassams [home made rockets]. We had
to bring psychologists to deal with the trauma. Children couldnt sleep at
night. They wet their beds. Everyone was jumpy and scared.
Liz Elizirov works in the Israeli development town of Sderot for a community
organisation that offers counselling and welfare-benefit advice to the poor.
Sderot, a fairly new town just a kilometre from the barbed wire fences
surrounding Gaza, is home to a mixture of Caucasian, North African,
Russian, and Ethiopian Jews.
Palestinian extremists frequently fire Qassams into Sderot, which, to date,
have killed no one. But they are imprinted on the minds of its 20,000-strong
population, some of whom are the poorest Israelis. There is little industry
left in the town since the second Palestinian Intifada began in 2000.
Liz says the insecurity is bearable just. But people find poverty harder to
deal with. No one wants to invest in a missile target. Many citizens feel
marginalised by the state. Many live on welfare, and their benefits have
been slashed in the last three years in a government cost-cutting exercise.
For example, we give hot meals at schools to kids whose parents cant
afford them. There are people here who, because of the budget cuts,
cannot keep up with their mortgage payments. Many families come here on
the brink of being evicted from where they live. We try to help them with
lawyers and letters. This whole cycle of impoverishment is getting bigger
and bigger.
Oxfam interview conducted in Sderot, 25 February 2004

Israeli civilians in Sderot used to feel more secure when they had
personal relationships with Gazans. Palestinian labourers built their
villas. Sderot residents did their weekly shopping in Gaza. It wasnt
always like this. We used to be neighbours, reported one school
principal. I taught many, many young Gazans and helped them out. Now
we cannot even have a conversation, we cant even meet.58 Real security
needs to be found in trust, which is being eroded by on-going
violations of rights and the mechanisms of separation.

16 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

5 International protection is urgently
needed
There is a clear difference in the extent and nature of suffering of
Palestinians and Israelis, but it is civilians on both sides who pay the
price of the conflict physically, emotionally, and psychologically. If
civilians are not protected while a political solution is found, people
will continue to be killed and injured, civil society will continue to be
weakened, and there will be little chance of the political process
taking root in a climate of growing and unjustified violence.59
The GoIs recent proposal to withdraw from the Gaza Strip has
provoked discussions in the international community about the need
for international protection in the territory. While the debate about
protection is welcome, this reactive approach is too ad hoc and
limited. What is really needed is a comprehensive international
protection strategy for the whole of the occupied Palestinian
Territories; one which requires the GoI to meet its obligations under
IHL, matched with credible efforts by the PNA to meet its obligations
to eradicate terrorism. Furthermore, Israels unilateral plan has
aroused strong criticism, not least from the EU, for completely
omitting any co-ordination with the PNA.
Practical action throughout the occupied Palestinian Territories by
the international community, and with the agreement of the PNA,
could help to create the space needed in which ordinary life could
resume and the foundations of a political peace process be rebuilt.
Many Israelis and Palestinians believe that any such foreign presence
must be linked to a clear and well-planned exit strategy, in order to
avoid it becoming a new form of occupation. In a survey conducted
in December 2003, 49 per cent of Palestinian respondents believed a
third party would play a useful role in the conflict, and 46 per cent
believed that an international presence should have authority and
power.60
To succeed, practical action by the international community must
have as its final goal the establishment of an independent, sovereign
and viable Palestinian state that can protect its citizens and address
Israeli fears about its security and future position in the region.
Without such an end goal, any external help will risk appearing as, or
turning into, another form of occupation.
Civilian protection must be the precursor to a lasting peace. It is up to
the participating parties, that is, the GoI, PNA, and the Quartet and
its member governments to determine a model of action that stops
civilian suffering and lays the foundations for peace. Several options,

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 17

though not exhaustive, have emerged as possibilities for considering
how best to ensure civilian protection.
With the conflict intensifying and polarising, Oxfam urges the
following action to be taken swiftly, regardless of other events:
1. A high-level meeting, focused purely on the protection of
Palestinian and Israeli civilians, should be convened as a matter
of urgency between the EU, UN, USA, Russia, the Government of
Israel, and the Palestinian National Authority. The meeting could
be called by any party of the Quartet, (the President of the EU for
example,) and would have as its task to consider and develop a
plan for protection and an implementation timetable. A
Protection Plan, as such, could aim to provide practical short-to-
medium-term solutions to the current threats facing civilians on
both sides, and could also provide some confidence to civilians
who are suffering as a result of the conflict. The meeting would
not attempt to deal with the broader political processes, as these
constitute the political stalemate, and might limit the degree to
which Quartet members would be free to engage on the question
of protection.
2. A Protection Plan should address the critical question of violence
with impunity, and seek a renewed commitment from both sides
to respect international humanitarian law, and to prosecute in
law those who commit criminal acts.
3. Protection of civilians is not just about security of life and limb,
but also about peoples right to meet their basic needs. On the
basis that immediate action could be taken to ensure civilian
protection as outlined in this paper (that is, on both sides), Oxfam
recommends that the construction of the separation barrier,
which causes so much deprivation, should stop and that sections
inside the West Bank be dismantled and removed. In addition
there should be a renewed commitment to ensuring access for
humanitarian agencies.
4. A Protection Plan could incorporate a number of possible
external interventions, again to provide mutual accountability
and confidence building measures. Some ideas and models are
offered below, ranging from short-term to medium-term
measures. Oxfam does not attach itself to any one model in
particular. Each has strengths and weaknesses and should be
considered alongside efforts to resume political and diplomatic
dialogue:

18 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

(I) A stronger protection or Observation Force for civilians
Attempts in the UN Security Council to establish an
international force to observe and monitor the occupied
Palestinian Territories have failed because of Israeli refusal,
American veto, or British abstention. In 1990, after 17
Palestinians were killed on Temple Mount, UNSC 681 was
adopted with a mandate to monitor and observe Palestinian
civilians under Israeli occupation. Its mandate lapsed. The
Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) was set
up to guarantee the safety of Palestinian civilians after a
massacre of Palestinians at the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron in
1994 (UNSC 904). Staffed by civilians from six European
countries, TIPH has documented human-rights violations in
Hebron since 1997, but it is unable to intervene, and its
influence is small because its reports go only to Israel, the
Palestinians, and the six European countries involved.
Oxfam suggests that a Quartet-mandated Observation Force
could augment and strengthen a model like TIPH
throughout the occupied Territories and provide a much
higher level of accountability from all parties.
In addition, States party to the Fourth Geneva Convention
which have consular representatives could undertake regular
monitoring and investigation in the occupied Palestinian
Territories in areas where access is denied by the IDF. These
consular representatives would meet the IHL definition of a
qualified witness and would require a clear UN mandate to
act in this role.

(II) A verification and implementation mission

An international force with the authority and means to
ensure that agreements were implemented could build the
confidence necessary for a final political agreement, as
suggested by the Geneva Initiative. An example of this was
the Multinational Force and Observers created to monitor
Israels withdrawal from Sinai in 1982. More recently, the
Quartets Road Map called for an effective mechanism to
monitor, evaluate, assist and facilitate, but US monitor John
Wolf and a small team was unable to ensure implementation
of the steps required, and violence took over. Such missions
need a robust monitoring capability to prevent them being
sabotaged by events and by extremists opposed to peace.

(III) A mechanism for settling disputes

This kind of international involvement is useful for diffusing
tensions, monitoring cease-fires, and preventing escalations of
violence. It was used in the south Lebanon region, where the

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 19

 IsraelLebanon Monitoring group was established through
negotiations between Hizbollah and Israel, after Israel killed
more than 100 Lebanese civilians in 1996 during its Operation
Grapes of Wrath. However, this kind of mechanism could only be
used at specific stages of a political process, and could not stand
alone as a way to protect civilians.

(IV) A peacekeeping force

An international force could patrol borders and buffer
zones once political agreement is reached between the two
sides. Its total composition would be balanced, so it would be
perceived to be objective. This approach would only work,
however, if there was a real desire for peace, and would be
useful only if a stable agreement had been reached. The
approach was deployed in the Golan Heights, where the UN
Disengagement Observer Force has patrolled the border since
the 1973 war.

20 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

Conclusion
Now is the time for action. Civilian lives are being lost each day as
the cycle of violence worsens. Oxfams staff and partners continue to
witness how Palestinians and Israelis urgently need their right to
protection under international humanitarian law upheld.
Protecting civilians should not be a by-product of a political process,
but should precede it and be intrinsic to it. Protection should be a
cornerstone of peace in the Middle East, and could strengthen the
political process, safeguard civil society, and reverse the decline in
the humanitarian situation. This would start to reverse poverty, as
well as lay the foundations for peace.
The Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority have
reached a deadlock, and are unable to address this situation without
external help. Oxfam believes that member governments of the UN
and the EU, through the Quartet and with governments in the region,
can and must find a solution to protect civilian life.

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 21

Notes

1
Foundations for Peace, Oxfam International Briefing Paper No. 21, p1.
2
Accounting Palestinian combatant and civilian casualties separately is
difficult, because most Palestinian combatants do not wear uniforms. Many
accounts of individual incidents report more civilian casualties than
combatant casualties.
3
Source: www.betselem.org.il/ and Palestinian Red Crescent Society and
Israel Defence Force.
4
Source: Magen David Adom. Statistics for Palestinian injuries alone range
from 26,129 (Palestinian Red Crescent Society), 38,000 (Palestinian National
Information Centre), to 41,000 (Palestine Monitor).
5
International humanitarian law, also known as the law of armed conflicts or
the law of war, is enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, designed to
safeguard those not actively taking part in the conflict, particularly civilians,
and in the Hague Regulations which regulate the conduct of military
operations (see www.icrc.org).
6
The protection of civilians, particularly, is enshrined in the Fourth Geneva
Convention of 1949, and in The Hague Regulations.
7
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices:
www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27929.htm#occterr
8
Btselem, Israeli Centre for Human Rights, statistics for the period 29
September 2000 10 March 2004.
9
Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS, to 1 March 2004). Other
estimates of Palestinian fatalities include 2,859 deaths (Palestine Monitor, to
1 March 2004), and 3045 (Palestinian State Information Service, to 28 March
2004).
10
Palestinian Red Crescent Society, 1 October 2000 1 March 2004.
11
Palestine Monitor, see www.palestinemonitor.org
12
Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 48.
13
Article in the Guardian, 8 March 2004, the day after the incursion, by
Robert Tait in Jerusalem.
14
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) press release, 7 March
2004.
15
The destruction of the personal property of civilians is prohibited in Article
53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, except where rendered absolutely
necessary by military operations.
16
PHCR press release, 13 October 2003.
17
UN News Service, 13 October 2003.
18
PHG WasH project press release, 12 October 2003.

22 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

19
Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of UN Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA), commenting on Israels policy of house demolition, press release,
22 January 2004.
20
Between 1 May and 15 May 2004, at least 190 homes were demolished by
the IDF in Gaza, most of them in Rafah (statistics from UNRWA, 21 May
2004).
21
The Guardian, 17 May 2004.
22
Btselem statistics for the period 29 September 2000 30 April 2004,
www.betselem.org.il/
23
Deaths caused by Palestinian suicide bombers inside Israel between 26
October 2000 and 31 March 2004 total 464 (379 Israeli citizens, 23 foreign
citizens, 62 defence forces personnel) as reported by Btselem (The Israeli
Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories).
24
Between September 29 2000 and May 1 2004, Magen David Adom, the
Israeli emergency service, treated a total of 6,314 casualties as follows: 847
killed, 549 severely injured, 784 moderately and 4,134 lightly injured, among
them 11 MDA staff members. (IDF casualties treated by IDF medical
personnel are not included in these figures.) Source: Israeli Ministry of
Foreign Affairs website.
25
Attention is drawn to the detailed report of Mdecins du Monde/FIDH,
Israeli and Palestinan Civilians: Victims of an Endless Conflict, two-part
study July 2002 and July 2003.
26
Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens Rights (PICCR), Annual
Report 2003, section four: Violations of citizens rights.
27
PICCR, Annual Report 2003, section three: The executive branch.
28
According to Btselem, 86 Palestinians suspected of collaborating were
killed by Palestinian civilians between 29 September 2000 and 10 March
2004. Twenty-nine Palestinians were executed by Palestinian security
services, of whom two were accused of collaborating.
29
The Road Map: Repeating Oslos Human Rights Mistakes, Human Rights
Watch, www.hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/israelpa050603.htm
30
Oxfam uses the term barrier, as the term officially adopted by the UN.
31
Peace Index, March 2004, the Tami Steinmetz Centre for Peace
Research.
32
Palestine Monitor Fact Sheet, January 2004.
33
Btselem Fact Sheet, 12 January 2004.
34
The area between the Green Line and the barrier. See UN OCHA fact
sheet, New Wall Projections, 8 November 2003.
35
Ibid.
36
Interview conducted by Abd al Latif, senior groundwater engineer of Oxfam
partner, the Palestinian Hydrology Group, 2 March 2004.
37
Forgotten Villages, Oxfam International, 2002, Preface, p8.
38
Household Food Security and Nutritional Vulnerability in the West Bank,
FAO Mission Technical Report, February 2004, p38.

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 23

39
PASSIA diary 2004, p283, source: Palestinian Water Authority.
40
Not Even a Drop, Btselem, Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in
the Occupied Territory, July 2001, p4.
41
Trilateral survey conducted by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and USA,
Feburary 2004.
42
Palestinian Hydrology Group and PENGON, March 2004.
43
Forgotten Villages, op. cit., p26.
44
UN OCHA reported the existence of 730 checkpoints, earth mounds,
ditches, roadblocks, and gates surrounding West Bank towns and villages in
December 2003.
45
Household Food Security and Nutritional Vulnerability in the West Bank,
FAO, op. cit. p45
46
Ibid., Executive Summary.
47
Forgotten Villages, op. cit., p11.
48
Of the 154 households randomly surveyed using cluster sampling
techniques in each city, 57 per cent of Nablus respondents reported lack of
sleep, and hiding and mental distress; 57 per cent reported hearing shooting,
explosions, and destruction in their neighbourhood; 14 per cent reported the
family hiding in one room, whispering so as not to be heard by the army; 9
per cent had to attend to children crying and urinating uncontrollably on
themselves; 50 per cent of respondents homes were searched by the Israeli
army; 53 per cent reported mental-health problems in terms of fear
(screaming, crying, inability to eat or sleep, and psychological disturbances
generally); and a high of 74 per cent reported views expressing despair and
misery at what is happening to their lives.
In Bethlehem, 65 per cent of those interviewed reported hiding in fear, lack of
sleep, and mental distress, and 87 per cent of respondents reported facing
problems related to mental health.
49
Life and Health during the Israeli Invasion of the City of Bethlehem,
Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, 29 May 2002,
p6.
50
Ibid., p7.
51
UN statistic quoted in The Road Map: Repeating Oslos Human Rights
Mistakes, op. cit.
52
We must be Heard, Policy Directions from the Youth Perspective,
Nablus Region, Bisan Center for Research and Development, June 2003,
p7.
53
Twenty-seven Months of Intifada, World Bank, 2003, chapter 4.
54
The equivalent of 31bn and 40bn New Israeli Shekels (NIS).
55
Head of the Knesset Economics Committee, quoted in OCHA fact sheet,
th
9 November 2003.
56
For further statistics, see Summary of Developments and Trends in Social
Security, 2002, National Insurance Institute of Israel.
57
Haaretz, 4 January 2004.

24 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

58
Oxfam interview with Sderot residents, 25 February 2004.
59
The UN Secretary General told the Security Council, Every effort to
strengthen the international protection of civilians in armed conflict is a
victory against terrorism which, by its very nature, seeks to undermine civilian
status and weaken the legal and institutional frameworks through which
civilian men, women and children are shielded from the violence of war, 26
November 2002, paragraph 61.
60
Palestinian Opinion Pulse, 4 (13), December 2003, p14, a survey
conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre.

Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004 25

Acknowledgements
The following Oxfam International partner organisations contributed
research for this report:

The Adva Center, Tel Aviv

Bisan Peace and Research Centre, Ramallah
Institute of Public Health, Birzeit University, Ramallah
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Gaza
Palestinian Hydrology Group, Ramallah
Ras Tira Village Council
Union of Health Work Committees, Bethlehem branch
Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, Nablus branch

And:
Btselem, the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
The International Committee of the Red Cross
Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens Rights, Ramallah
UN Food and Agricultural Organization, Jerusalem
The World Bank, Al Ram

Oxfam International May 2004

This paper was written by Katharine Maycock, with the assistance of Andy Hill and
Ishai Menuchin. Oxfam also gratefully acknowledges the help of Oxfam GB field
staff, Tony Klug, Hani al Masri, Dr Samy Kelani, Rita Giacaman, Dr Abu Rabia, MK
Yuli Tamir, Lawahith Abdul Hadi, and Malak Zeid in its production. It is one of a
series of papers written to inform public debate on development and humanitarian
policy issues. The text may be freely used for the purposes of campaigning,
education, and research, provided that the source is acknowledged in full.
For further information please email: advocacy@oxfaminternational.org

26 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004

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28 Protecting Civilians, Oxfam Briefing Paper. May 2004