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UNITED NATIONS ASIAN AND PACIFIC MEETING IN SUPPORT OF ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE “International efforts at addressing the obstacles to the two-State solution – the role of Asian and Pacific governmental and non-governmental actors” Bangkok, 10 and 11 July 2012 _____________________________________________________________________________________ CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY PLENARY II Settlement building as the main obstacle to the two-State solution Paper presented by Ms. Hind Khoury Former General Delegate of Palestine to France Former Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Palestinian Authority Jerusalem CPR/APM/2012/10

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UNITED NATIONS ASIAN AND PACIFIC MEETING IN SUPPORT OF ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE

“International efforts at addressing the obstacles to the two-State solution – the role of Asian and Pacific governmental and non-governmental actors”

Bangkok, 10 and 11 July 2012

_____________________________________________________________________________________

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

PLENARY II

Settlement building as the main obstacle to the two-State solution

Paper presented by

Ms. Hind Khoury Former General Delegate of Palestine to France

Former Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Palestinian Authority Jerusalem

CPR/APM/2012/10

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International efforts to address the obstacles to the two-State solution –

the role of Asian and Pacific governmental and non-governmental actors

Settlement building as the main obstacle to the two-State solution: ensuring the future viability of the State of Palestine

with East Jerusalem as its capital

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is an honor for me to be able to address you as representatives of the Asian governments and civil society. I wish to thank you for your presence and your interest and engagement in the pursuit of peace in the Middle East and Israel/Palestine. I present my special thanks to the committee for the Exercise of inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the organizers for this meeting. 1. Introduction and Context

Since 1948, and especially since the Madrid Conference in 1991 followed by the Oslo Accords, the international community invested important efforts and resources with the aim to achieve the two-state solution. The parameters of this solution are known to all: a Palestinian State within the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) based on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and an agreed upon solution to the issue of the Palestinian refugees according to UN Resolution 194.

This solution provides the perspective for regional peace through the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, where an offer was made by all Arab and Muslim states to normalize relations with Israel conditional upon its withdrawal from all the territories occupied in 1967. But as all parties interested to see this Two-State Solution through know, this Peace Process is not only eluding us, but at this juncture, the window of opportunity to realize it is closing—and it may very soon not be an option.

There is certainly an urgency to salvage the two-state solution as expressed by many officials. Just few days ago I heard Robert Serry, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, saying, “Time is running out for achieving the two-state solution, but more urgently, it shall not be possible tomorrow.” He added that it is urgent to salvage the Peace Process by all according to relevant UN resolutions and signed agreements.

The European Union report on the situation in Occupied East Jerusalem (published end of 2011) states:

“The past year has again seen a further deterioration of the overall situation in East Jerusalem. If current trends are not stopped as a matter of urgency, the prospect of East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state becomes increasingly unlikely and

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unworkable. This, in turn, seriously endangers the chances of a sustainable peace on the basis of two states, with Jerusalem as their future capital.”

Some Israeli leaders realize there are not that many alternatives to this Peace Process

because they want to maintain a Jewish state. Prime Minister Olmert declared before the end of his term that if the two-state solution collapsed, Israel would “face a South African–style struggle for equal voting rights, and as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished.” Shaul Mofaz, the new leader of the Israeli political party Kadima said, “The greatest threat to the State of Israel is not nuclear Iran, but that Israel might one day cease to be a Jewish state, because Palestinians could outvote Jews. So it is in Israel’s interest that a Palestinian state be created.”

In this context, the Israeli government's adamant position to aggressively pursue its colonization of the West Bank and East Jerusalem remains a clear message that Israel is not interested in completing the Peace Process, but rather, maintaining it in order to continue to change the reality on the ground to fit its own policies. 2. Israeli Colonization (known as “settlements”) as the Main Obstacle to Peace

The viability of the future Palestinian state will require land and other natural resources, the presence and wellbeing of its people, and clear sovereign borders. It is the duty of the international community to ensure that none of these elements are forgotten or comprised in the Peace Process.

This paper shows how Israel, through its colonization program of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, is jeopardizing exactly these three elements. Israel is grabbing the very land that should constitute the Palestinian State, and aims to render the Two-State Solution a non-option. Colonization in the OPT is the geopolitical means through which Israel has been able to continue usurping the land, water, and other natural and economic resources—rendering the Palestinian people’s daily lives extremely difficult, economically unsustainable, and devoid of their most basic human rights. Israel is also trying to ensure full control of all borders, denying the future state any sovereignty and hence creating the conditions for voluntary emigration and forced de-development.

Israel wishes to establish a Palestinian state according to its own terms: truncated, non-viable and under Israel’s complete control. The analysis of the colonization program and its infrastructure shows that Israel is willing to provide Palestinians a limited autonomy on scattered parts of the OPT as a solution to what it calls the “demographic threat”—a racist concept—that Palestinians pause to its existence as a Jewish state in historic Palestine, and where there are 5.5 million Palestinians versus 6 million Jewish Israelis.

The Israeli settlement strategy—or more accurately referred to as the colonization program—aims to force the Palestinian to accept the Israel’s terms that would actually enable it to pursue ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population and further control the demography and land, even after any agreement from the Peace Process.

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As Israel continues its illegal actions without being accountable by the international community, Israel is encouraged to pursue its colonization program unabated, in total violation and full breach of international law. These actions are also against the most basic exigencies of simple morality and human values which are at the core of our humanity and religious beliefs in general, and specifically in the three Abrahamic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Israel operates the Occupation and its colonization program as a state above international law and above accountability.

People of the Middle East—and specifically, Palestinians— have paid a high price for

this lack of accountability. It is time that Israel’s violations of international law be halted once and for all.

Members of the international community have the task to not only salvage a sustainable solution, but also restore credibility to the body of international law that was so painstakingly formulated to protect humanity from the greed and savagery the world suffered in the First and Second World Wars. 2.1 The Colonization Program and Expansion

It is important to emphasize that the only internationally recognized borders for the State of Israel are those of the Partition Plan Resolution 181 of 1947. The Palestinian people, under the influence of Western powers, accepted to trade justice (meaning the return to a democratic and pluralistic Palestine) in exchange for an end to Israeli military violence and occupation. In 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) declared its acceptance of a state in the land occupied in 1967—which is merely 22% of historic Palestine. Eventually they signed the Oslo Accords with the promise of establishing a Palestinian state by 1999.

The terms of the Oslo Accords were never fully realized. By 2000, Israel deployed its military forces into 18% and 20% of the West Bank (referring respectively to Area A and Area B), which constitute a land-based archipelago of ghettos or towns and villages, surrounded by Area C (60% of the West Bank), where Israel has kept full control and where its colonization program has expanded exponentially in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and signed agreements.

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The partitioning of the West Bank into Areas A, B, and C

Area A: Palestinians have full administrative and security control

Area B: Palestinians have administrative control while the Israeli Army continues to have overriding control over

security issues

Area C: The Israeli Army continues to have overriding control over security and land related issues

Area C is fundamental to a viable Palestinian State as stated by the Quartet in its last statement on the Middle East. The table below shows how this area includes a large proportion of water aquifers, springs, forests, and fertile land.

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Significance of area C

TypeArea A \dunum

Area B \dunum

Area C \dunum Total

% of area C

Nature Reserve 52,300 42,600 607,730 702,630 87

Forest 7,000 9,000 59016 65016 90.1

Wells 223 87 287 597 48

Springs 70 122 112 304 37

Roads 2900 km 3100 km 5800 km 11800 km 49.1

It is on the land in Area C that Israel has constructed its Segregation Wall (the eastern segregation plan) , confiscating 13% of the West Bank and isolating East Jerusalem from its organic hinterland in the West Bank. Israel also has in place the Western Segregation Plan by closing off the Jordan Valley for Palestinians. The size of this closed off area amounts to 27% of the West Bank, hence confiscating more water resources and fertile land in addition to controlling the entire Jordanian border.

Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, Israel has doubled settlement construction. There are now 176 Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, housing 620,000 settlers.

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On January 29, 2012, the Israeli government approved an old-new project entitled “National Priority Areas” which included a series of benefits and financial allocations to be granted to 557 areas, including 70 illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

For years, such measures have continued in violation of the Oslo Accords in which it was agreed that Israel would pull out from all of the OPT within 18 months of the inauguration of the legislative council—which was completed in 1996. The exceptions to the pull-out were supposed to be East Jerusalem and the settlements which make up 5% of the West Bank. Hence, Israel was expected to withdraw from 95% of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem more than 15 years ago.

According to the “Road Map,” Israel was supposed to freeze all settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including natural growth. Despite international criticism of the Israeli planning and building policies in Israeli settlements over the years—including in East Jerusalem—Israel continues defiantly as it expands the settlements even though they are the foremost obstacle to achieve any real progress in the Peace Process.

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2.2 Illegal Settlement Outposts

In addition to all settlements being illegal according to international law and signed agreements, Israeli settlers have also built illegal settlement outposts all over the West Bank that are also in violation of Israeli law. According to the Road Map, Israel was expected to dismantle all settlement outposts that had been erected since 2001. Instead of dismantling the outposts, however, and additional 143 outposts have since been established.

As per the map below, Israeli settlement outposts were constructed to consolidate Israeli control of the areas isolated by the Separation Wall (Western Segregation Zone), in the Jordan Valley (Eastern Segregation Zone), and also it aims to populate the corridors that connect the two areas and consolidate the Palestinian ghettos in Areas A and B.

Spread of Settlement Outposts

Area A & B andNature Reserves

Western Segregation

Zone

Eastern Segregation

Zone

Projected Israeli

Corridors

68Israeli

Outposts“Western”

30Israeli

Outposts“Eastern”

96Israeli

Outposts“Corridors”

38Israeli

Outposts“Others”

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2.3. East Jerusalem, Human Warehousing

President Abbas has been very clear—and with him almost all Palestinians—there will not be a Palestinian State without East Jerusalem as its capital. This should be obvious to all, but it is not to the Israeli government.

East Jerusalem is the religious, cultural, and economic capital of the OPT. Prior to its total annexation and isolation by the Segregation Wall and military checkpoints, it provided 30% of the economy of the West Bank. In addition, this site for pilgrimages and its religious traditions has been preserved and safeguarded by Palestinian Jews, Christians, and Muslims for centuries. Jerusalem can only be a symbol of diversity and inclusiveness. It can never be an exclusively Jewish city. Any exclusivity in Jerusalem will only deepen the conflict, increasing fundamentalism and violence.

Israel has built more than 110 settlements in East Jerusalem: an inner ring of connected small outposts in the Old City of Jerusalem; an outer ring in the larger municipal Jerusalem; and a third ring comprised of three large settlement blocks.

In 44 years, Palestinian built up area increased 2.5 fold while Jewish built up area increased 367 fold

Jerusalem Governorate����

Jerusalem Governorate ������

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Geo-demography of the Jerusalem “WALL”

Jerusalem borders increase to: 260,000 sq.km

��������������� ���������� ������� ����

��������������� �������� ������� ��� ������������������

������������ ������������� ���������� �������� ��� ��!��"# ��������

Palestinians in East Jerusalem live on 13% of their city in strangulated neighborhoods that are separated from one another. Palestinians in East Jerusalem face discriminatory service provisions, especially in education and municipal services. Urban planning is one main instrument to impose this discrimination, and through the construction of the Segregation Wall, Israel has actually succeeded to get rid of more than half of the Palestinian population of the city. Hence, as planned by Israel, the Palestinian demographics will be decreased from 34% to 15% of the total population in Jerusalem.

Within the same policy framework, Palestinians in Jerusalem are merely “residents”—not citizens. So far Israel has revoked the residency rights of very close to 15,000 Palestinians who call Jerusalem “home.” Many more Jerusalemites risk losing their residency at any time. In addition, Palestinians have a hard time obtaining construction licenses from the Israeli municipality. People build on their land anyway because they urgently need housing as their families grow. As a result, Israel has demolished 4,500 Palestinian homes and structures, and more than 10,000 more homes risk receiving demolition orders any time. (See the Arab Research Institute of Jerusalem [ARIJ] and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition [ICAD] for more information.)

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Through discriminatory Israeli law, Palestinians from East Jerusalem cannot live in Jerusalem if married to a Palestinian from another part of the OPT. Nevertheless, such marriages still occur, forcing the spouse without a residency ID to live in Jerusalem illegally, terrified about getting caught and being deported. As a result, about 10,000 children (many are now adults) have no legal papers—legally speaking, they do not exist.

Another means of confiscating and strangulating Palestinian in East Jerusalem is by declaring “Green Zones” and hence ensuring that all empty land is not available for Palestinian livelihood. In the areas where Palestinians are permitted to live, the neighborhoods are very crowded. These areas have little to no urban planning, are restricted by the construction of large roads that surround them, and are devoid of public or commercial space. ARIJ, calls these neighborhoods “human warehouses.” In some areas, the population density amounts to 23,000 per sq. km.

Human Warehouse

Area Km2 Population Density\ Km2

Palestinian 14.790 280,000 18,931

�� ���� ����� ����

Area Km2 Population Density\ Km2

Israeli 22.13 227,643 10,286

Locality NameAsh ShayyahSur Bahir & Um TubaBeit HaninaRas Al AmoudSheikh JarrahSilwanAs Sawahira al GharbiyaAl 'IsawiyaWadi Al JozJerusalem (Al Quds)At TurAth ThuriJabal al MukabbirAs SuwwanaSharafatShu’fatBeit Safafa

Settlement NameAtarotRamotHar GiloGiloHar Homa & GivatHamatosNof ZionEast TalpiotRekhes Shufat (Ramat Shlomo)Pisgat Amir & Pisgat ZeevNeve Ya'akovJewish QuarterHebrew University (HarHaTzofim)Ras al A'mud (Ma'ale Ha zeitim)Ramat EshkolGiva't ShappiraSettler Houses in Old City

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2.4. THE SEGREGATION PLAN, THE WALL

Despite the publicly stated reason of “security,” the Israeli Segregation Wall is not about Israeli security; it is about land grab and control of natural resources. The land isolated by the Wall consists of 47.5% of agricultural areas, 15% Israeli settlements, and 24% forests. Palestinian built up areas make up only 3.5%, congruent with Israeli policy to grab as much empty land in the West Bank as possible.

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The ICJ ruling, adopted by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 1515 ten years ago, has still not been implemented by the international community and Israel. This inaction has encouraged Israel to further pursue its illegal construction of the Wall and denying one third of the West Bank population its basic human rights, including access to work, school, hospital, and family. During this same decade, Israel has increased the length of the Wall from 645 km to 770 km and increased the area isolated by the Wall from 633 to 713 sq. km. 2.5. The Jordan Valley

The Israeli government controls 95% of the Jordan Valley which is closed off to the Palestinian population even those who are denied access to their own land. Palestinian farms in the area are denied water supply, access to a labor force, and the ability to trade in and out of the area. This closed area makes up 27% of the West Bank. In addition to the Jordan Valley itself, it includes all its hinterland to the eastern mountain range of the West Bank. The Wall and its related consequences means that Israel control 64 MCM of fresh water and 65,000 dunums (1 dunum=1000 square meters) of irrigated land for 8,000 settlers compared to 43,000 dunums owned by the Palestinians—much of which cannot be cultivated because of Israeli restrictions. Note that the total irrigated agricultural land in the West Bank totals 200,000 dunums.

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The economic losses to the Palestinian economy due to the closure of the Jordan Valley are significant—1.44 billion USD (754,000 dunums that could employ 380,000 workers). Economic losses are also due to restriction of access to Dead Sea salts and potential beauty and health products in the approximate amount of 1.6 billion USD—a profit that is enjoyed by Israeli companies.

The Eastern Segregation Plan(27 % of the West Bank)

42 Palestinian communities, will be isolated in the Eastern

Segregation Zone.

This zone is accessible only to inhabitants who prove that they are permanent residents of the

area.

On 2.3.2010, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would never agree to withdraw from the Jordan Valley under any peace agreementsigned with the Palestinians.

3. Mobility Restrictions And Economic Consequences

The Israeli checkpoints vary in their physical structures; cubical cement roadblocks, earth mounds, manned checkpoints and agricultural gates, tunnels, secondary roads, and iron gates. At the time of this report, there are 738 (including 78 in Area H2 in the Old City of Hebron) Israeli checkpoints dissecting and isolating the Palestinian localities from each other and restricting the movement of 2.5 million Palestinians in the OPT. The Israeli checkpoints in the OPT are turning into de facto border points, a place where Israeli soldiers strip people of their dignity and compromise their humanity. The Israeli persistence to manipulate a reality in their favor under the pretext of security does not justify their collective punishment of Palestinian people and Israeli’s ongoing violations of Palestinians' human rights. Quarrying and Mining

The West Bank is rich in gravel and stone, and they represent the major merchandise export of Palestine (along with marble). Much of the mines and quarries from which these materials are extracted in Area C, and most of those are under direct Israeli control. As a result, Israel uses these areas to extract material mainly for the Israeli economy, preventing any economic benefit to Palestinian companies.

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The Israeli Civil Administration's staff officer for Trade, Industry and Mining estimates

the annual gravel yield in the West Bank is approximately 12 million tons per year. Based on this number, the estimated foregone gross value added for the Palestinian economy from mining and quarrying would be 575 million USD, or 7.1% of the total Palestinian GDP.

A full report on the economic losses due to the Occupation was presented by Dr. Jad Isaac from ARIJ last February in the Committee's meeting in Cairo. According to ARIJ, total economic losses due to the Israeli Occupation and its restrictions totaled approximately 7 billion USD in 2010.

These costs include losses from the blockade of Gaza, restrictions on water resources, restrictions on other natural resources (Dead Sea salts, quarrying and mining, and natural gas), losses from exports and imports, losses from potential Dead Sea tourism, losses due to restrictions on international mobility, uprooting of trees, and fiscal costs.

These calculations show clearly that an end of the Occupation of the OPT will lead to a viable Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders. Recovery of the above losses, combined with the fact that the Palestinian community is young—more than 65% of the population is younger than 30—well educated with 98% literacy, and highly entrepreneurial is a very sound base for a viable Palestinian State within the pre-1967 borders. 4. Gaza

In 2005, Israel dismantled its illegal settlements in Gaza where 8,000 settlers lived. But Gaza remains the largest open air prison in the world. It has always suffered restricted access, especially since 1994, and then worse still when it was placed under a hermetic siege and blockade in 2006. This blockade is still ongoing, causing abject poverty, destruction of the private sector, a whole economy that is further deformed, primitive, informal, and unsafe —most notably because the main supply for goods is conducted through inhumane tunnels dug in the sand on the Egyptian border.

Gaza has seen Israel widening the military belt around it over the years which has now taken over 24% of Gaza. Access to fishing is severely limited, with access to the sea reduced to just three nautical miles (rather than the internationally-agreed upon 12 miles). Gaza has an important contribution to the viability of the Palestinian State. 5. Palestinian Contribution To Peace

In May 2011, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund concluded that the Palestinian Authority is sufficiently developed to take full responsibility of an independent state. However, the great and successful institution-building exercise has reached its political limits. It has satisfactorily concluded on 40% of the land and needs to expand into Area C, the rest of the OPT, and reconnect with East Jerusalem.

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Palestinian cities are bursting and need to expand for natural growth. Instead, Israel has

been expanding exponentially in Area C, creating in the framework not for a Palestinian state, but for a Jewish settlers’ state. A viable Palestinian State must include Area C and East Jerusalem—presently the missing parts. These are the areas where most donors and UN agencies have agreed to make a priority for development in all fields in order to keep the hope of the Two-State Solution alive. The international community is rightly shocked that 20 years after the Oslo Accords, Palestinians are not able to invest or develop in these areas, and worse, any structure built is demolished by the Occupation army. With demolitions doubling in 2011, the international community must find ways to reverse this destructive trend.

This harsh reality is surely leading to a One-State reality—not a fair and just “One-State Solution” but an apartheid state without any political horizon.

Almost unanimously, Palestinians have adopted non-violent resistance against the Occupation. They are being joined by allies and activists from the rest of the world, as well as some justice-oriented Jewish-Israeli allies.

They are conducting intense political and diplomatic efforts to have the Palestinian State recognized within the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. One hundred and thirty-two states have already recognized this Palestinian State, with many others in Western Europe upgrading their diplomatic missions with the PLO. The inalienable rights of the Palestinian people were recently reconfirmed by 182 members of your esteemed General Assembly. All this is joined by growing awareness and solidarity movements with the Palestinian people around the world. The momentum from these successes needs to be supported and nurtured. You, dear ladies and gentlemen, should ensure that these efforts are not wasted. 6. Conclusion

Time is not on our side. Settlement expansion must cease immediately. The negotiations need clear terms of reference to resume, and a calendar should be set to establish the Palestinian State. Achieving this is the duty of the United Nations, which has partitioned Palestine and has been trying to apply Resolution 242 and other relevant resolutions now for 45 years. Palestinian leadership made huge and painful compromises in negotiating with the State of Israel, agreeing to a reduced version of their state in order to complete the Peace Process.

Palestinian leadership has conducted a state-building exercise admired by the world. Now it is time to move forward with the full integration of international law. The international community is also responsible also for creating awareness about these issues that are so crucial at this critical juncture for peace in the Middle East, and indeed, the world.

Establishing the Palestinian State in the framework of the two-state solution will save the peace in the Middle East and the credibility of the international governance system.

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