List of acronyms and abbreviations. 3
Executive summary 4
Section 1: Introduction. 4
1.1 Background. 4
1.2 Study objective. 6
Section 2: Findings.. 6
2.1 Causes and effects.. 6
2.1.1 Conflict.6
2.2 Responses and evaluation.. 8
Section 3: Conclusion.... 10
Section 4: Recommendations 11
References..13
Acronyms and abbreviations
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
GHA Global Humanitarian Assistance
GS Gaza stripe
HRW Human Rights Watch
ICC International Criminal Court
IFA International Food Aid
OPT Occupied Palestinian Territories
UN United Nations
UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East
WB West bank
WBGS West bank and Gaza stripe
WFP World Food Program
WHO World Health Organization
Executive summary
Much of the current OPT population is living in poverty, without enough to eat. While there is no question that the WBGS area produces food stores which cannot meet regional needs, the reasons why the agricultural industry cannot meet the needs of the people has never been fully addressed. There are a number of significant contributing factors that demonstrate why food-production is non-lucrative for laborers, and so abandoned as a trade, most of which are directly tied to the long term impacts of the Israli-Palestinian relationship, and ongoing occupation. More specifically the destruction of agricultural resources, the reduction in overall farm land, sanctions placed on food-industry try workers like fisherman, and export limitation have destroyed food productivity both in terms of its economic viability and its physical ability to produce the quantities needed to support national demand. There are two basic avenues for supporting those who are food insecure as a result: short term aid, and long-term change. Food scarcity must be addressed in a long-term way that focuses on remedying the political climate that has generated a not-before-seen level of hardship for those seeking food security.
Section 1: Introduction
Background
For many in Occupied Palestine Territory (OPT) the fear of hunger has become a part of daily life (UNRWA, 2014). This is because an estimated 33 percent of the local population is currently classified as food insecure, and as a result, do not know where their next meal will come from (WFP, 2016). This is a common problem in the West Bank Gaza Strip (WBGS) area, which consistently produces food stores which are below the consumption rate of the local population (WFP, FAO, and UNRWA, 2008). According to the FAO (2003), food security only occurs when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” It is often noted that food insecurity in OPT is significantly less severe in some areas, than in others (WFP, 2016). For example, Gaza Strip suffers from a 57% food scarcity rate, while West Bank, which is also food insecure, only suffers from a 19% impact of food scarcity (WFP, 2016). Both of these areas are considered food insecure because, according to the WHO (n.d) defined characteristic of food scarcity, food scarcity is characterized not by the lack of food stuffs when you compare one nation to another, but rather when you compare the amount of food available to the human demand for food within that area. As such, it is important to understand the underlying causes which contribute to food insecurity in the OPT in order to create lasting solutions, and improve overall quality of life. To date, solutions have been only short term, focusing on meeting the population’s immediate needs rather than taking a broader stance that considers remedying the political climate that has generated a not-before-seen level of hardship for those seeking nutritional stability (WFP et al., 2008).
1.2 Study objectives
The primary aim of this report is to raise the awareness of the level of food insecurity suffered by residents of OPT, especially as it is related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and to investigate effective measures to address this issue.
Section 2: Findings
2.1 Causes and effects
2.1.1 Conflict
The ongoing conflict, and more specifically harsh sanctions that have been placed on OPT by Israeli forces, have created a scenario in which food supplies are seriously diminished (Benari, 2013). This can be seen in the food availability, or lack thereof, in both Palestine, and Israel. Currently, the rate of OPT food insecurity is approximately three times higher than this for Israel at 33% and 10% respectively (Efraim, 2011. & WFP, 2016). This disparity has occurred as the direct result of to multiple specific political factors, directly related to Israli-Palestine relations.
First, Israel has restricted the movement of goods, including food resources, across the OPT (Benari, 2013). This has resulted in an inability to restock essential food supplies, has thereby undermined the food security of many areas of the region (Ibid.).
Additionally, the physical conflicts related to the Israel-Gaza wars have ultimately damaged or destroyed in excess of 3,000 hectares of farmland in the region, rendering them unfit for producing significant agricultural products (Schaeffer, et al., 2012). These losses have reduced the overall land available for agricultural production by as much as 44% (WFP, 2010). Specifically, damage reducing available food stores includes both the destruction of aged agricultural products, like olive, grape, almond and citrus trees, and the contamination or desecration of tillable land (Chehata, 2011). Further, an increase in the uninhabitable zone between Israel and Gaza resulted in the loss of the 3 kilometer path across the nation, most of which was actively used in agricultural productivity before the creation of the buffer zone, that cannot be lived in or used of active cultivation (Kucinich, 2014).
This has resulted not only in the loss of consumable food stuffs, but also in the loss of trade in a major economic sector (Chehata, 2011). This has contributed to rural poverty in the WBGS region, reducing average income in effected areas by as much as 40%, and ultimately increasing the poverty rate in OPT to more than 67%, and rural unemployment to greater than 45%, placing rural Palestinians among the most at-risk populations in the world (IFAD, 2006; Sherwood 2011). This growing rural poverty then generates a financial situation in which people cannot actively meet their basic needs, including purchasing food, further damaging food security throughout the region. Similar losses were experienced among other sectors, including among fisherman, who were impacted by blockades, and animal growing facilities, who suffered from loss of production space, all of which have contributed to a downward spiral in terms of losses in both the economic and food source arenas (WFP, 2013; El Jazairi, n.d.). In essence, the more the Israli government limits the people of Palestine, and to interfere with their land use, the poorer and hungrier they become.
2.2 Responses and evaluation
There are two significant forms, or layers of response involved in creating relief from current food insecurities: short-term responses, largely in form of providing funds and resources to meet the immediate needs of those suffering from the financial and consumable resource loss described previously, and long-term solutions that focus on reversing or mitigating political policies or scenarios that generate a hostile food environment for residents of the OPT.
The first way in which the food crisis is alleviated is through urgent food aid (Philips, 2014). This is literally the delivery of food products designed to provide relief from the food shortage, as a short-term, life-saving means of providing support. The GHA (2012) reported that an estimated 654 million dollars in food aid was provided to the OPT in 2012 alone. This aid was delivered both in the form of physical food deliveries and in the form of food vouchers (Black 2007).
Additionally, financial support was offered to those in need, in the form of cash payouts, and the creation of employment opportunities and increased support for the sale of goods. For example, in 2007, the Paris Donor Confrence infused the Palestine economy with 7.7 billion dollars in direct exports (Black, 2007). Additionally, organizations like Oxfam (n.d) have actively worked within Palestine to create job opportunities for members of the agricultural and fisher market, damaged by the conflict. Finally, similar programs have been instituted by the UN and its agencies, in order to provide aid to those suffering from food insecurity and economic disparity within the OPT. These avenues of aid are, however, all short term. They provide a means of helping Palestinians overcome the immediate impacts of hunger and poverty, but have no impact of the long-term impact of the same conditions, or the underlying political structures that have created the poor living conditions, and ongoing food scarcity.
In contrast, long-term solutions must come in the form an altered political environment, through changes in policy and political culture that ultimately change the living conditions of those living in the Israeli-Palestine area. These efforts alleviate the food scarcity in the nation by increasing national stability, and thereby solving the crisis on a larger scale. The question, however, is what course of action will create the most lasting long-term peace for those in OPT. While many nations support a transition toward independence, several major world powers, including the United States, Canada, and Australia, greatly oppose allowing Palestine’s sovereignty (Bartlett, 2014). Never the less, the UN appears to be increasingly supporting their bid to become an independent nation (Lauria, 2015). However, until action is take not stabilize Palestine’s political climate, over the long-term, these decisions remain only in theory, and the impact that they would have on the OPT remains unknown.
That said, in order to overcome the food shortage in the OPT, rather than covering the shortage through short term prevision of resources, the underlying causes of the food crisis must be eliminated. Currently, evidence clearly demonstrates that the political climate and ongoing conflict have decimated food availability both from an economic and physical food provision level. So, long-term solutions must be devised and enacted in order to create stability and improve overall quality of life.
Section 3: Conclusion
The OPT is suffering from a major food crisis, in that over a third of the local population suffers from an inability to provide for food, at the most basic level. This is primarily the consequence of ongoing political upheaval and violence, which has reduced the amount of agricultural space available, and the number of individuals providing edible food stuff who can afford to stay in their chosen labor of love, and who have instead been forced to urbanize in terms of their income, or to live on unemployment and aid.
Food production has been reduced, as has the economy, because as food-related resources are lost, so are the jobs that the agricultural platform provides to the people. As such solving the current food related needs alone, or providing aid in the economic sector, will not ultimately improve the lives of all those living in the OPT, until the larger underlying causes of the food scarcity are addressed. Political challenges, specifically as they relate to the Israli-Palestine relationship and ongoing conflict have created an atmosphere of food shortage and only political change can provide a long-term solution to the resulting challenges.
Section 4: Recommendations
Decreased sanctions that limit the ability of aid donors to deliver aid to the needed parties.
Restoration of damage created by the wars, including replanting trees that were destroyed that provided significant food and export sources.
Create a sustainable employment for those losing their jobs as a result of political unrest, and lost of agricultural context.
Decrease sanctions that limit trade
Eliminate buffer zones and other political policy which yield specific assets of the nation as non-plantable, or reduce agricultural productivity.
References:
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