A new report issued this month form UN office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Occupied Palestinian Territory (OCHA opt ) revealed that the suffering of the Palestinians is strongly resulted of military actions and restrictions imposed by Israeli occupation forces on Palestinian citizens as well as the continued acts of violence by Jewish settlers against the Palestinian people. The report reads, the fragile space for human rights and dignity left to Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory was further affected by the increasing tension between the two Palestinian authorities in Ramallah and in Gaza, as well as by the military activities and restrictive practices by the Israeli authorities. The combination of these factors resulted in numerous cases of Palestinian civilians being killed or injured, denied access, arbitrarily arrested, displaced and denied basic services such as water and sanitation, health and education. During August, 114 unarmed civilians in the West Bank, including 68 children, were injured by Israeli security forces during military activities, more than half of them in anti-Barrier demonstrations in Ni'lin and Bil'in villages (western Ramallah). In addition, 37 people were injured as a result of attacks carried out by Israeli settlers, the largest number recorded since January 2005. The inter-factional fighting in Gaza resulted in 14 fatalities (13 of whom were armed) and 103 injuries, including 17 children and six women. The freedom of movement of the Palestinian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt )remained severely constrained. In the West Bank, however, the Israeli authorities implemented three measures easing access on certain West Bank routes, including the dismantlement of one staffed checkpoint and the partial opening of another two. Despite these steps, people movement remained highly restricted by a variety of measures, including approximately 600 closure obstacles, the West Bank Barrier, roads prohibited for Palestinian use and areas closed by military orders. In Gaza, most of the population was still unable to move in and out of the Strip. The main exception to this was about 3,000 people who were allowed to cross Rafah out of Gaza and about 1,000 allowed into Gaza during the last two days of August, and some 560 patients who were granted permits to leave Gaza through Erez crossing. Despite the re-opening of the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing, the amount of imports allowed to enter Gaza continued to decrease over the month, August imports constituted around 70% of July imports and 23% of the imports in May 2007. The lack of raw materials, combined with the continuous prohibition on exports prevented economic reactivation For more information, please visit www.ochaopt.org
