Before deciding to travel to or volunteer in the West Bank, many people wonder about what the occupation of the West Bank actually looks like on the ground. While foreign media has often portrayed the West Bank as a dangerous war zone, the reality of day-to-day life in the West Bank is much different and there are many Palestinians who experience some semblance of normal life. Having said that, there are certain aspects of the Israeli occupation that are front-and-center and cannot be dismissed—affecting the lives, well-being, and prosperity of the Palestinian people. This article aims to shed light on the complicated reality of the lives of Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank.
West Bank Areas
To understand the occupation, it is first necessary to understand that the West Bank is divided into three distinct areas—A, B, and C—that all differ in how they are governed. In Area A, comprised of about 18% of the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority has full civil administrative responsibilities—like running courts, schools, municipal governments, and other services—and is also responsible for security. In Area B, made up of about 22% of the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority has full civil control, while internal security is maintained by joint Israeli-Palestinian patrols. Finally, Area C makes up over 60% of the West Bank and is under complete civil and security control of the Israeli military government. The land in Area C has largely been allocated to Israeli settlements, military bases, and bypass roads, which affects the daily lives of the nearly 300,000 Palestinians living in the Area and divides the PA-controlled areas into dozens of tiny territories. Furthermore, Area C contains the majority of natural resources and open spaces in the West Bank; however, 99% of the land is excluded from Palestinian use.
While there is a distinction in governance by area, Israeli military has been known to routinely enter Area A to conduct raids and arrests of Palestinian citizens with no need for search warrants. Essentially, military law can be exercised in any area of the West Bank at any time deemed necessary by the Israeli government. There are also many military checkpoints both on the borders and within the West Bank; thus, we will consider all of the areas, in large, as one military-occupied territory.
Military Law
Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank are governed by different laws. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank live under Israeli military law, which is made up of 2500 military orders created by the army since 1967. There is no democratic process to examine or question laws added, and each law may be enforced, or not, at the discretion of an Israeli soldier. In comparison, Israeli colonists or settlers in Palestine are served by Israeli law.
Administrative Detention
In the West Bank, Palestinians may be held indefinitely without charge. Since 2000, over 8000 Palestinian minors were arrested, many of which were taken from their beds in night raids by the Israeli military. Most convictions occur through coerced plea bargains, and torture of adult and child prisoners is widespread. As of April 2016, 692 people were held without charge—some for years.
Restrictions on the Free Movement of People and Goods
The first thing that many people will notice when arriving in the West Bank is the restrictions to movement that Palestinians experience constantly in their daily lives. The two physical embodiments of this restriction are the border wall and the various checkpoints that surround and infiltrate the West Bank.
The Wall
The West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967 and construction of the wall began in 2002. Planning for the wall, originally constructed as a temporary response to the escalation of violence during the 2002-2005 uprising against the occupation, began in 1992 after an earlier and largely peaceful uprising in 1988-1993. Though the United Nations considers the wall illegal under international law and has urged Israel to stop building it and pay reparations to Palestinian people, the wall continues to be extended. By the time of its completion, it will stretch 810 kilometers, with 85% of the wall built on Palestinian land. The wall is outfitted with surveillance cameras, barbed wire, and guard towers.
The wall determines where Palestinians can live, work, and travel, and operates in combination with other Israeli measures, like military checkpoints and permits. The UN calls any system of racial segregation “Apartheid” and regards it as a crime against humanity; however, there has been little international action to stop its expansion.
Checkpoints
Checkpoints control the flow of travelers between the West Bank and Israel, and also within the West Bank. These internal checkpoints are operated by the Israeli military, but some have even been outsourced to private contractors. They are known to shift locations and pop-up whenever and wherever Israel deems necessary. At the start of 2016, there were 543 checkpoints in the West Bank, which seal off and obstruct travel to whole districts or villages. Palestinian people passing through these checkpoints are routinely stopped, detained, and questioned by Israeli forces for little or no reason—providing serious obstacles to living daily life, be it working, attending school, or visiting family or your own land. These checkpoints are also have varying hours and can shut down at a moments notice. To pass through many checkpoints, particularly those entering Israeli territory, Palestinians need Israeli issued permits.
Permits
The Israeli army issues 101 types of permits. Palestinians must carry these permits within the West Bank to travel; go to a hospital, school, or workplace; do construction; live in a house; farm their land; and other daily human activities. These permits are notoriously difficult to attain for Palestinians, and daily life is dictated and affected when they are withheld by the Israeli government. Permits are also required for the following: entering Israel to work; attending a funeral; attending a wedding; a physician escorting a patient; a farmer accessing his own land; among others.
Segregated Roads
Even the road system in the West Bank is segregated. The Israeli government has built ‘bypass roads,’ which may only be used by vehicles with Israeli license plates to travel through the West Bank. These roads are typically of a higher quality than the roads designated for Palestinians and provide more direct routes through the West Bank. While segregated buses were officially removed from Israel in 2015, most buses still leave from separate stations that primarily exclusively serve Israelis or Palestinians. Additionally, Israeli buses to the West Bank often opt to pass through Israeli-only checkpoints and exclusively serve Israeli-only settlements.
Settlements
Throughout the West Bank, there are blocks of apartments and houses built by the Israeli government and private companies on Palestinian land. Currently, there are about 600,000 settlers in over 137 settlements and 100 outposts in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. These settlements are illegal under international law, but they continue to be built. Once built, the Israeli government considers settlements as ‘facts on the ground.’ Settlements receive military protection and some settler groups have a record of vigilantism against local Palestinian communities. In cities like Hebron, protective mesh wiring has been placed above Palestinian market streets to protect shopkeepers from rubbish and materials thrown by settlers. Many Palestinian shops have also been forced to close for “security reasons,” with entire streets sanctioned off as military zones and turned into settler territories. Now, many of the shop doors are welded shut and have been painted with the Star of David as a warning that Palestinians are no longer welcome.
Access to Resources
There is also an unequal distribution of critical resources in the region. Israeli policies actively deprive Palestinians of access to groundwater, which has led to a shortage of clean and safe water available for Palestinian use across the region. Palestinians are entirely dependent on Israel in regards to water, because developing water access routes and repairing infrastructure requires permits, and few are granted by the Israeli government. If wells or buildings are made without them, the Israeli government destroys them. Furthermore, an estimated only 50.9 percent of households in the West Bank have access to water on a daily basis, and the West Bank has some of the lowest per capita water availability in the world at 72 liters per capita per day. This is less than the 100 liter minimum recommended by the World Health Organization. As of 2013, Israel’s 600,000 illegal settlers collectively used six times more water than the three million Palestinians in the West Bank for domestic use.
Additionally, Palestinians have limited access to arable land in the region as well as access to other utilities, such as internet bandwidth and mobile reception that is restricted by the Israeli government
Protests
Protests and political demonstrations against the occupation are common in the West Bank. Most of the Palestinians involved in the protests remain peaceful; however, some resort to throwing stones, which many people have come to see as an assertion of freedom and a recognized right—under international law—of people to resist foreign military occupation. Israeli soldiers typically respond to protests with crowd control methods, such as firing tear gas projectiles and rubber bullets. Live rounds have been known to be used and deaths have also resulted from some of the army’s “less-lethal” methods.
As a Foreigner
Daily life as a foreigner traveling and living in the West Bank is noticeably different than that of a Palestinian. While illegal settlements and the border wall are never far from sight, you are less likely to face any problems dealing with Israeli soldiers or being stopped for long periods of time at checkpoints. As a foreigner, you are not governed by the same Israeli military law as Palestinians, which provides more freedom and the ability to live your daily life with fewer restrictions on your civil liberties.
