Jerusalem Center for Social & Economic Rights

Jerusalem Center for Social & Economic Rights

'CLOSE(D) TO SEPARATION'     

 


The impact of closure and direct effects of checkpoints on East Jerusalem's institutions and residents  May 2002
 
 Contents

Summary

Since the start of the second Intifada on September 29, 2002, Israel tightened its closure on Palestinian towns and villages, including East Jerusalem. Recently, the Israeli Cabinet decided to erect a security fence to complete the separation of Jerusalem from Palestinian areas. The goal is to force Palestinians, who want to enter Jerusalem, to cross only through established military checkpoints, make 'by-passing' checkpoint impossible, and in general to make it more difficult to reach Jerusalem for Palestinians. The cabinet approved the plan - which envisions the building of electric fences, stonewalls, trenches, and roadblocks in areas outside city limits - at the end of March 2002. The plan further includes the installation of video cameras and thermal observation posts, which will be manned by 500 additional border policemen stationed on city's outskirts. This plan is currently being implemented. Checkpoints have already affected the lives of many Palestinians since 1993. Effects increased since the start of the second Intifada. These new developments are expected to deteriorate the current situation and to increase the problems Palestinians face crossing checkpoints to enter Jerusalem. JCSER conducted a study on the impact of the closure and direct effects of checkpoints on East Jerusalem's institutions and residents, which had the following outcomes.

The closure resulted in the breakdown of the social and economic fabric of Occupied East Jerusalem. The closure of East Jerusalem over the past ten years, which intensified considerably since the start of the second Intifada has greatly affected the eastern part of the city economically, socially, as well as culturally. In many ways, the closure did cut East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. It resulted in the transfer of many Palestinian institutions out of East Jerusalem in the early nineties. As Jerusalem used to be the Palestinian center for economic, social, and cultural activities, to a large extend this has been changed over the years as activities moved beyond the city borders. All institutions that remain operating in East Jerusalem mention a decline in the number of people able to come to Jerusalem whether for visiting, services, school or work since the start of the second Intifada. They used to serve Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Nowadays these are almost exclusively accessible to the Palestinian people with a Jerusalem identity card. Procedures for obtaining entry permits to make use of services of East Jerusalem's institutions for non-Jerusalemites have become so restricted that they are almost impossible to obtain. Palestinians, who do not depend on East Jerusalem for education, health care, work or something else, avoid coming to the city.

Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem have been forced to reform their services since September 2000. While some institutions increased their activities outside the city borders, others reformed to focus more on people from the Jerusalem area. All main East Jerusalem hospitals reported this for example. This means that the East Jerusalem's specialized and highest quality health care services are to a large extend not longer available to Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories without a Jerusalem identity card. Educational institutions did not report a decline of students coming from outside the Jerusalem area although they do report increasing difficulties to remain the same level of quality and accessibility of education. This is especially the case for the Al Quds University and private primary and secondary schools.

An important aspect of decreasing services and quality is because staff experiences enormous difficulties in reaching their workplace as it has become almost impossible to obtain entry permits for staff, while entering without a permit has become much more difficult compared to the period before the start of the Intifada. In all cases entering Jerusalem, with as well as without permit, has become more time-consuming, expensive, and stressful. This especially affected the institutions, which largely depend on staff from outside the city like hospitals and private schools. All institutions report a decrease in effective working time because of the closure affecting the quality and quantity of services. Another effect of the closure reported by all institutions, including the Jerusalem Center of Commerce with regard to the economic sector, is extra costs and decreasing financial resources.

Observations and interviews at the checkpoint give an indication of daily checkpoint reality and how people crossing perceive this reality. The main effects on daily life for Palestinians with a Jerusalem identity card are that their freedom of movement is restricted. They suffer delays and stress, as they have to cross the checkpoints. In most cases, except when there is a total closure, they are able to pass and reach their work place, school, university or health care center. However, as roadblocks are only set up in the Palestinian neighborhoods of the city, they disproportionately affect the life of Palestinian Jerusalemites compared to Jewish citizens and therefore discriminate against them.

The effects of the closure are much more severe for Palestinians without a Jerusalem identity card. The closure policy severely violates their right to freedom of movement, and other economic, social and cultural rights. They have been almost completely banned from the city since the start of the second Intifada, which affects amongst others their access to education, health care, work, and Jerusalem's holy places. The restricted procedures for obtaining permits, finding their way through 'by-pass' roads and the uncertainty of being able to reach Jerusalem safely, the time and costs it takes, and the increasing changes of being caught, harassed, and/or humiliated by Israeli soldiers or border police makes that many people avoid coming to Jerusalem. This policy mostly hits those, who depend in one way or the other on institutions in the city.

It is a general feeling that current controlling measures are inefficient resulting in an estimated delay of about half an hour on average and not aimed to reduce the inconvenience for the people crossing. Decisions often seem arbitrary. Treatment and the ability to cross checkpoints depend to a large extend on the political situation and the individual Israeli soldiers or border police on duty. The increasing political tensions of the last couple of months in which this study was conducted were reflected on checkpoints resulting in increasing waiting time, incidents of humiliation, harassment and human rights violations reported and observed.

New recent permit policies restrict the freedom of movement of Palestinians even further and practices of more intensive checking without increasing the capacity at the checkpoints and with unclear security purposes resulted not only in more restrictions, delay, stress, and rights violations, but also increased the feeling of injustice, racial discrimination, and collective punishment against the Palestinian people. This is expected to increase further as the current plans to seal of East Jerusalem will be completed, including problems East Jerusalem institutions face today, which will further limit access to and the quality of their services.

Although everybody has to right to security, security measures should not violate basic rights. However, this is exactly what is happening. Israel's current policy of closure discriminates against Palestinians and regressively impacts their enjoyment of the full range of economic and social rights. Israel's policy of closure is a violation of the freedom of movement (UDHR art. 9 and 13; ICCPR, art. 12) and violates the Convention on the elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which Israel is a State Party. Israel's policy of closure negatively impacts the right to access to work (art. 6 and 7), education (art. 13) and health care (art. 12). The imposition of closure represents also serious violations to rules of international humanitarian law, specifically, article 50 of the Hague Convention (1907) and Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1949), which prohibit the use of collective punishment against civilians. According to Article 33 of the Hague Regulations Addendum to the Hague Convention of 1907, Israel, as an Occupying Power, is under a legal obligation to maintain normal life in the territory it occupies. Israel's actions stand in direct contradiction to the legal duties of an Occupying Power as set forth in customary international law. On 24 November 2001, the UN Committee Against Torture stated Israel's policy of closures may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in breach of article 16 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The way in which the closure policy is put into practice, namely by determining if a person can pass by the color of one's identity card, the inefficiency of Israeli soldiers checking people, which causes unnecessary delay or obstruction of their freedom of movement, together with the use of power and violence, which endangers the life of the ones have to cross, increases the question of effectiveness. The manner in which closure is pursued indicates that the policy rather serves political, social, cultural and economic considerations. Referring to the current situation and recent developments, including plans being implemented today to completely seal of East Jerusalem by building a fence around it, JCSER urges the Israeli government to reconsider these plans and revise its current security policy of imposing closures as these do violate the rights of the Palestinians, including Jerusalem residents. JCSER calls on the international community to condemn Israel's closure policy and to take effective measures to lift the closure and to ensure Palestinians freedom of movement.


Acknowledgements

This report is based on data collected by researchers of the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights (JCSER) over the first five months of the year 2002.

JCSER would like to thank everybody, who assisted, contributed and participated in this research. We especially thank:

JCSER, May 2002


Introduction

Closure refers to restrictions and control on the movement of goods, people and vehicles and is a daily reminder and expression of the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territory. It is an example of a policy, which causes unnecessary suffering for the Palestinian people on a daily basis and affects many aspects of their life. This policy is materialized in permanent and mobile checkpoints, unmanned roadblocks, dirt walls, and concrete blocks restricting freedom of movement.

The policy of closure used by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem is strongly related to the Israeli -Palestinian conflict and the political situation. With the second Palestinian uprising (Intifada), which began on 29 September 2000, a new wave of heavy closures was launched. As the situation is escalating further, the closure policy intensifies. The restrictions on movement imposed on the Palestinian population are unprecedented in the history of the Israeli occupation in their scope, time, and severity of damage they cause to the routine life. According to Palestinian sources, there were 97 armed blockades in the West Bank and 32 in the Gaza Strip during the last quarter of 2001. Nowadays, about 20 armed blockades, most of these structural and some occasional or 'flying' ones, divide East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. Unarmed roadblocks close off other roads. Since September 29, 2002, Israeli forces erected new structural checkpoints and regularly used 'flying' checkpoints at the entrances of East Jerusalem's Palestinian neighborhoods. These roadblocks put into practice the closure policy and prohibit Palestinians with a West Bank or Gaza identity card from entering Israel and East Jerusalem without a permit.(1) However, these checkpoints also increasingly affect the daily life of Palestinian Jerusalemites.

Historic overview

The policy of closure is nothing new and has been used by Israel since it occupied the Palestinian Territories in 1967. Palestinians traveling from cities and villages in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to occupied East Jerusalem have a long experience with 'well-guarded' routes and restrictions on movement. Since 1967, Israel's closure policy has gradually intensified. In the late eighties and early nineties, in the wake of the first Intifada and under the shadow of the Gulf War, Israel imposed a closure on Jerusalem. Since late March 1993, a general policy of closure - the term referring to Israel's sealing of the West Bank and Gaza Strip - has been in effect in the occupied territories.

From that time, the policy has become consistent. The imposition and intensification of restrictions on movement became a tool to fulfill Israeli aims in East Jerusalem, namely to separate the eastern part of the city from the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and to integrate it into Israel. Soon it became illegal for Palestinians without an Israeli citizenship or Jerusalem residence permit to enter or pass through East Jerusalem and Israel without obtaining from Israeli authorities an individual permit for the purpose specifically designated. To enforce this policy in Jerusalem, nine checkpoints were set up, one on each main road entering the city from the West Bank.

Israel has the final say regarding who is allowed to enter Jerusalem and who is not. Obtaining a permit is a lengthy, humiliating, and arbitrary process, which requires the submission of considerable personal documents and a lot of time. There are no clear procedures and criteria for receiving permits, and there is no requirement to state reasons for denying one, nor is there any avenue of appeal for Palestinians denied permits. If granted, permits are usually for short terms and must be renewed for each new entrance to the city. The permit specifies the hours in which the holder is allowed to be in the city, and even the exact areas where the holder is allowed to go. Palestinians without permits are turned back from checkpoints surrounding Jerusalem. However, even holding a permit does not guarantee access. Israel can choose at will to impose a total closure on Jerusalem. Those that succeed in passing illegally can be subject to arrest and/or imprisonment as the Israeli police can stop them in the city at any time. Palestinian registered vehicles used to require special permits to enter Jerusalem and Israel. Nowadays, they are not allowed to enter at all.

Impact

Even though East Jerusalem is the economic, educational, medical, religious, and cultural center of the Palestinian community, Israel has virtually separated East Jerusalem from the rest of the occupied territories. Especially since the start of the second Intifada on 29 September 2000, East Jerusalem seems further away then ever for most Palestinians.

Today, checkpoints, including the ones in and around East Jerusalem, represent exceedingly long lines, harassment, humiliation, and inhumane treatment in a variety of forms for the Palestinian people and have become a daily reality for many of them. Citizens are forced to wait long hours if they are able to pass through at all. Checkpoints prevent workers and employees from reaching their workplace, students from reaching their schools, patients from reaching hospitals and health care facilities, etc. This policy of closure has had grave effects on economic, social and cultural life in East Jerusalem.

In the best case, passing a checkpoint involves delay and anxiety as an identity card is checked and uncertainty about whether and/or when one's destination will be reached. However, it is also a place where one's is running a high risk to be subjected to abuse whether physical or psychological, and arrest. Many examples have shown that the rights of people who have to cross checkpoints are limited and depend on the often arbitrary decisions of the Israeli soldiers present.

Recent developments

"The geography of Jerusalem makes it relatively easy for Palestinians on foot to reach the city center if they are willing to walk from Arab villages on the smaller roads and paths where there are no Israeli military checkpoints" said Mr. Olmert, Jerusalem's major in an interview on March 18, 2002. "Jerusalem is surrounded from all sides by Arab townships and neighborhoods. There is no physical barrier; if you walk you can always reach the city", he said. Recently, the Israeli Cabinet decided to erect a security fence to separate Jerusalem from Palestinian areas. The goal, Mr. Olmert said, is to force Palestinians, who want to enter Jerusalem, to cross through established military checkpoints. These developments are expected to make the current problems of Palestinians who have to cross checkpoints to enter Jerusalem only more urgent.

The closure of Jerusalem will be complete if the Israeli plan will be carried out. This plan is based on establishing obstacles to the flow of people and vehicles into the city from Palestinian areas. According to Internal Security Minister Landau the aim is to "make it more difficult for Palestinian residents to reach Jerusalem from Ramallah and Bethlehem. It will limit the number of entry points into the city, where inspections will be conducted."(2) The cabinet approved the plan - which envisions the building of electric fences, stonewalls, trenches, and roadblocks in areas outside city limits - at the end of March 2002. The plan further includes the installation of video cameras and thermal observation posts, which will be manned by 500 additional border policemen stationed on city's outskirts. The plan would incorporate the settlements of Ma'aleh Adumim and Givat Ze'ev, even though they fall beyond city limits, as well as Palestinian villages of Abu Dis, Beit Iksa, Anata, and Hizma, currently located in so-called area B, which means that they are under Palestinian Authority civil control. This plan is currently being implemented and expected to affect the lives of many Palestinians living in these areas.

Purpose of closure

Israel justifies the policy of closure on the basis of security risks. However, this security rationale has been challenged for various reasons. Most importantly because it fails to secure Israel from attacks. As it is uniformly applied to all Palestinians, closure affects everyone except probably those that are skilled and determined enough to breach it. Every day, many Palestinians do manage to evade checkpoints by simply walking around or making more difficult and time consuming detours through dirt roads, fields and hills.

These conclusions are confirmed by different both Israeli authority sources as well as sources from international institutions. For example, Dugard, the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, concludes in his latest report of March 2002 the following: "Road checkpoints have become a regular feature of Palestinian life. Palestinians are obliged to wait for lengthy periods while Israeli soldiers check vehicles and inspect identity documents. In order to avoid these delays Palestinians often abandon their cars or leave their taxi and cross the checkpoints on foot to catch a taxi on the other side of the checkpoint. This practice suggests that the purpose of this exercise is not to prevent security risks from crossing checkpoints that lead to Israel, as any such person may walk around the checkpoint carrying heavy baggage. Rather, it is to humiliate Palestinians and to put pressure on them to cease resistance to Israeli occupation. In this sense, it is a collective punishment of the kind prohibited by article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention." (3)

A recent UNSCO report states: "It is becoming increasingly clear that closure does not have the effect that it has originally sought. Though the expressed intent is not collective punishment, there can be no doubt that the effect is collective hardship. The ways in which closure measures are implemented and the collective impact they are having upon the population raises questions about their validity as a security tool. Moreover, closure has not stopped violent actions. Rather, periods of severe closure have often shown more violence." (4)

A World Bank report came to the same conclusion: "The closure policy is more damaging to security in the long run". Robert, the World Bank representative, said in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz on May 20, 2002 that he finds it difficult to be persuaded that a process that is impoverishing the entire Palestinian society - causing damage to stability in the long run - can lead to rapprochement in the future. "Militarily, I have no opinion on the effectiveness of the closures. But strategically, it is clear they are creating an atmosphere that is not conducive to the security of Israel." (5)

Also officials in the Israeli defense establishment argued recently that the checkpoints do more harm than good. "They have turned into a symbol of the occupation, a daily reminder of who are the lords in the land and who are the subjects. There's barely a single Palestinian for whom the word checkpoint (and they know the word in Hebrew, mahsoam) is not associated with rage and hatred," quoted Ha'aretz on February 21, 2002.(6)

Another article in the same newspaper, published on 2 November 2001, stated that an Israeli army report revealed that the job of the Israeli soldiers on the checkpoints is harming the Palestinian population on a large scale. 'There are no instructions defining the goal of checkpoints. These checkpoints do not prevent anti-Israel parties from entering the green line.' The report further mentioned: 'there are no clear orders with regard to humanitarian issues on the checkpoints. There are no procedures to submit incidents taking place on the checkpoints to official parties. These incidents are not receiving proper remedy.'(7)


Research set up, methodology, and justification

The information presented in the introduction formed the basis of the research set up. There are reports that describe the economic, social and cultural impact of the closure policy for the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a whole. However, no detailed information on East Jerusalem specifically was available. As the status of East Jerusalem differs from the rest of the territories, it can be expected that also the impact of the closure policy is different.

This report aims to describe the social, cultural and economic impact of the closure on East Jerusalem, its institutions and residents and whether this policy violates economic, social and cultural rights. This study will focus on the period after the start of the second Intifada on September 29, 2000, but specifically on the recent period, January - May 2002.

Hypothesis and research question

Hypothesis:
"The policy of closure, which prevents and controls Palestinians from entering East Jerusalem, implemented by closing of all roads entering the city or erecting checkpoints at the remaining ones has an enormous social, cultural and economic impact on the eastern part of the city, severely effects daily life, and violates some basic rights, including access to health care, education, and work."

Research question:
"What is the social, cultural and economic impact of the closure on East Jerusalem, its institutions and residents, and how does it effect daily life?"

Sub-questions:

The study aims to collect data both on the macro as well as on the micro level of the impact and direct effects of the closure. JCSER will use this study as an advocacy tool and an instrument to provide information and evidence that the tightening closure and separation of East Jerusalem increasingly violates basic rights of Palestinians, including the ones holding Israeli identity cards, and that therefore the use of the current closure policy should be reconsidered and revised.

Furthermore, this study aims to be used as a base-line study for developing and implementing a monitoring system to monitor the situation at the roadblocks and the effects and impact on the eastern part of the city from a human rights perspective.

Methodology, data collection, and context

The study includes both qualitative as well as quantitative data, namely literature overview, interviews with representatives of the main economic, social, religious, cultural, health care and educational institutions in East Jerusalem, and a general survey (observations and semi-structured interviews) at four main checkpoints. This means several research techniques and approaches were used. This combination ensures comprehensive data both on macro, institutional level as well as micro, personal level to be able to analyze and answer the previously formulated research questions within the limited capacity and resources available.

From the start of the Intifada until January 2002 information was mainly collected from literature review and interviews with representatives of institutions to describe the general impact. The interviews all took place in January and February of this year. This was before the main incursions into Palestinian controlled areas of March and April, which severely affected and restricted the movement of all Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem.

As JCSER's capacity and resources were limited, a selection of main economical, educational, health care, cultural and religious institutions, which represent the economic, social and cultural sectors in East Jerusalem, were selected and approached. Twelve representatives of different sector institutions were interviewed. These were open interviews and included questions that asked for a general description of the impact of the closure on the sector in general and the specific institution in particular, if the interviewee could describe possible differences before and after the start of the second Intifada. When mentioned that there were any effects, if the person could describe these as concrete as possible, including effects on staff, clients/beneficiaries, activities, and/or other. Finally, the interviewer asked for available statistics, illustrative cases, and/or other evidence to found the mentioned effects.

The survey at the checkpoints focused on the first part of 2002 in which the study was conducted (March - May) and describes the daily impact of the checkpoints. Observations and interviews took place at the four main checkpoints on roads entering East Jerusalem, namely Bethlehem in the south, Ram and Qalandia, both situated at the Ramallah - Jerusalem road, in the north, and Ras Al-Amud checkpoint at the eastern border of the city. This survey was greatly affected by the political situation of this period, which was marked by incursions into Palestinian towns and villages, in which gross human rights violations took place. During this period these areas were completely closed off and people living in these areas were kept into their homes for extensive periods of time up to several weeks.

Bethlehem is a border checkpoint between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which is so-called area A. This means that it is under Palestinian Authority control. Ram is also a border checkpoint between East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank. The neighborhoods and villages after the checkpoint are so-called B and C areas (B areas are under Palestinian civil control and Israeli military control, while C is occupied territory under full Israeli control). Both these checkpoints exist since the implementation of the closure policy in East Jerusalem in 1993. Qalandia is not a border checkpoint, although the area next to it is still part of annexed Jerusalem. It was established after the start of the second Intifada. Since the summer 2001, the Israeli army intensified the closure on this road and regularly cases are reported about the use of violence against people crossing, this checkpoint. Since April this year, Palestinians without a Jerusalem identity card need special permission to cross this checkpoint. Also Ras Al-Amud checkpoint, connecting the eastern villages of Abu Dis and Azzariyeh with Jerusalem, has been established after September 2000. In the areas after Ram, Ras Al-Amud as well as Qalandia checkpoint there are many Palestinians living who do have Jerusalem identity cards and therefore are considered Jerusalem residents and who have the right to enter Jerusalem without a permit.

Some observations and interviews took also place at 'closed roads' and 'by-pass checkpoint roads' with people who avoid or go around checkpoints. Observations included a general description of the situation at the checkpoint at the time of observation, the number of cars and people on foot waiting before the checkpoint and the time they had to wait.

A sample of people entering Jerusalem, whether via checkpoints or via closed roads, was interviewed. Questions included for example how many times one enters Jerusalem weekly, the purpose of entering, how an interviewee enters the city in most cases, how long it takes on average, etc.

JCSER realizes that in some cases it is not possible to differentiate the effects and impact of the closure from the whole political situation. Furthermore, it recognizes that the situation at the checkpoints is very much influenced by the political situation and possible attacks taking place. The experience learns that every Palestinian attack whether in Israel or in Jewish settlements and military posts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories will lead to an immediate tightening of the closure and a tenser situation at the checkpoints. Is the situation calm and there is a political process going the checkpoints are in general more relaxed and there is a less strict control. Therefore, no general conclusion can and will be drawn from this data, but these will be used as illustrations to give an indication of daily checkpoint realities.


Part I

Social and cultural impact, including access to health care and education

Cultural impact

"The right of everybody to take part in cultural life includes steps, which are necessary for the conservation, the development and the diffusion of culture, and respect for the freedom indispensable for creative activity." (Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)

Before the closure, Jerusalem was the center of the West Bank. Social and cultural events were all centered in Jerusalem. In many cases this has shifted to beyond the checkpoints. This can be noticed in the city. After 17.00 o'clock the East Jerusalem city center is completely empty. Shops, hotels and restaurants, except for a few, are closed or empty. For example, the Palestinian National Theatre experienced a drop of 50 percent in its audience according to its director Mr. Jamal Ghosheh. "Especially the public from the surrounding cities and villages are not coming anymore to the Jerusalem theatre." He also says that this is not only the case for the theatre, also other institutions working on festivals decreased, postponed or changed their activities.

International cultural groups are no longer coming to East Jerusalem because of the political situation. Local Palestinian groups from outside Jerusalem cannot participate in activities and perform inside the Jerusalem boundaries because of the closure. Productions from the West Bank and Gaza became very few according to Ghosheh. Some shows had to be cancelled because no entrance permits could be obtained. According to him permits were never needed before the start of the Intifada, while now it is impossible to get them.

The closure as part of the whole political situation affected the interest of people in cultural activities. Therefore, cultural activities decreased since September 2000. However, although East Jerusalem is cut from the rest of the West Bank, Ghosheh stays optimistic. "Closure does not limit the Palestinian cultural identity as culture is something without borders," he says. There has been a shift in approach. The theatre, like other cultural institutions in Jerusalem, is now more outside oriented. "If people can no longer come to the theatre, the theatre has to go to the people."

Impact on religion

"Everybody has the right to freedom of religion, which includes freedom to manifest his religion or belief in worship." (Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Jerusalem is a holy city for three religions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism. However, as the city, including its holy places, is open for all Israelis, international tourist and pilgrims, it is closed for Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories except East Jerusalem. This means that both Palestinian Muslims as well as its Christian population cannot come to Jerusalem to visit and pray at the holy places.

According to Father Raid from the Latin Patriarchate, it is impossible to obtain an entry permit to visit Jerusalem for religious reasons. "For publicity reasons, Israel says to facilitate access. However, in many cases this is not put into practice as requirements can not be met," he says.

Mr. Samir Abu Leil, the assistant director of the Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem estimates that the number of people that used to come to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock decreased about 60 percent due to the closure. Al Haq, for example, reported in a press release that the closure cut the number of worshipers to only 25,000 during Ramadan in 2000 from the usual number of 250,000 who come to worship at the Al Aqsa mosque during the holy month of Ramadan before the second Intifada started.(8) At the end of last year, 2001, newspapers reported that the number of worshipers during Ramadan was again smaller than the previous year. Although Israel claimed that it eased the closure to allow people to go and pray, many Palestinians who tried to reach Jerusalem found that in practice this was not the case.


Press release 27 November 2001 - Israel Violates Palestinians' Freedom of Worship in East Jerusalem

Despite the fact that this month marks the for Muslims Holy Month of Ramadan, many of them cannot come to pray at their religious sites in Jerusalem. Although the Israeli authorities announced to ease the closure imposed on East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Territories, this cannot be affirmed by the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights (JCSER).

The closure has an enormous impact on religious institutions in Jerusalem, both the Christian as well as the Muslim ones. Both interviewees, representatives from Muslim as well as Christian religious institutions, mention the inability to obtain entry permits for employees since the start of the Intifada. "Workers from the West Bank can not obtain permits despite many applications. Only in a very few cases they did get a permit. However, these are for a short period of time and only for workers who are married and above the age of 33," says Father Raid. "Before the Intifada, permits could be obtained much more easily. Besides that, the closure was not as strict as today, so there were many ways to enter Jerusalem 'illegally'," he added.

Access to education

"Everybody has the right to education and education shall be equally accessible to all." (Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Also the Fourth Geneva Convention provides that the "Occupying Power shall, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children."

The effects of the closure on East Jerusalem and the increasing number of checkpoints in and around the city have affected the educational system in East Jerusalem. Many Palestinian pupils, students, teachers and other staff members have been denied access to their schools and universities, and education has been severely disrupted. Palestinian schools in Jerusalem and the city's only Palestinian university attempt to deal daily with the consequences of the closure.

Al Quds University
Al Quds University is the only Palestinian university operating in the Jerusalem area. It has its main basis in Abu Dis, but also runs faculties and offices inside the city itself. The Al Quds University has about 6000 students of which 40 percent is from the Jerusalem area, while 60 percent is from outside the Jerusalem area (about 25 percent from the Hebron area, 18 percent from the Bethlehem area and 17 percent from the Ramallah area). Of the 700 University staff members, especially the academic staff comes from all over Palestine. The support staff is mainly concentrated in and around the Jerusalem area.

Neither staff nor students without an Israeli or Jerusalem identity card have been able to obtain entrance permits for Jerusalem since the start of the Second Intifada, and therefore, are unable to enter the city 'legally'. According to Dr. Khaled Kan'an most of them still manage to come, but arrive later. Furthermore, they experienced an increase in travel expenses to reach the University. Staff and students coming from outside also moved to the Jerusalem area, which costs them extra accommodation expenses. It estimated that about 30 percent of the students, who used to travel up and down every day, moved to the Jerusalem area.

Al Quds University had to extend its first semester of the 2000 school year by one month to compensate for lessons lost. "In December 2001, after an attack in West Jerusalem, the university was officially closed for one week because of the curfew on Abu Dis. During another two weeks, only about 20 to 30 percent of the students and staff were able to reach the university. Today, the university has decreased its weekend by one day to compensate for lost time," says Dr. Khaled Kan'an from Al Quds University. It is planning to use the summer holidays for this purpose as well.

The University had financial losses because of the closure. It calculated the costs of the time the University was completely closed. This is estimated to be US$ 35,000 per day. Finally, the Al Quds University experienced a drop in students, who register for its summer courses. Dr. Khaled Kan'an is convinced that the quality of education is being affected because of psychological effects on both students and staff and because the university can offer less continuity.

Primary and secondary education
The private schools historically served students of middle class families from the Occupied Palestinian Territories beyond the city of Jerusalem. Nowadays, a lot of these children have to smuggle themselves in to be able to go to school. After the closure policy became a fact in 1993, teachers from the territories who had been employed in Jerusalem schools had to enter the city 'illegally'. Many looked for work elsewhere. This affected the quality of private schools as there are not enough teachers in Jerusalem and the government-run schools give relatively higher salaries. Therefore, in primary and secondary education, private schools have been especially hard hit, as more than half of their teachers (an estimated 800) are not from Jerusalem. A total of 70 percent of the 93 schools in East Jerusalem are private.

"Before the start of the Second Intifada there were no or very little problems for teachers as well as pupils in coming to school" says Mr. Samir Seqali, director of the St. George boys' school. Nowadays, the impact of the current closure, as part of the whole political situation, is enormous because of both direct as well as indirect effects mention several interviewees. Direct effects are that both teachers as well as staff are unable to obtain travel permits since the start of the second Intifada. This means that they cannot enter the city legally. As a consequence teachers arrive late for their classes and many schools have lost days in which one or more of its teachers could not reach the school at all. However, the indirect effects are just as severe. There is a strong feeling of insecurity, which has a huge psychological impact. According to Ms. I'tidal Barghouti of the Rosary girls' school, it occurs regularly that pupils arrive at school in a state of panic and fear, especially the ones that have to pass the Qalandia checkpoint and experience regular that there is shooting going on and teargas being used. Also Mr. Samir Seqali mentions incidents on checkpoints: "It happens about once a week that a pupil gets caught at a checkpoint because he has no permit or for interrogation." According to his opinion the whole political situation, including the effects of checkpoints negatively affect the capability to learn and therefore their future opportunities.

"In the meantime, the quality of education is negatively affected because of the closure," says Muhammad Sowaan and Samir Jundi, both from the Jerusalem teachers union. "Before the Intifada, more time was spent on other activities, such as sports and trips. This has almost stopped completely at most schools in East Jerusalem because time is needed for compensating for lost classes." It also affects the educational process, which is not or hardly being developed because of the current situation. This influences the quality of the curriculum.


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