Highlights - Bedouin community in the Hebron area is at heightened risk of forcible transfer. - Cement imports resume to the private sector in Gaza after a 45-day suspension. - Permit approval rates for national staff working with international organizations to exit and enter the Gaza Strip have decreased significantly in 2016.
April Figures - Palestinian killed (direct conflict): 3 - Palestinian injured (direct conflict): 286 - Israelis killed (direct conflict): 0 - Israelis injured (direct conflict): 21 - Structures demolished in the West Bank: 97 - People displaced in the West Bank: 199
Overview
More needs to be done to prevent another escalation in Gaza - UN Special Coordinator
The rate of demolitions across the West Bank slowed in May, following a sharp increase in the previous four months. However, the number of Palestinian structures destroyed since the beginning of 2016 has already exceeded the figures for all of 2015 (595 vs. 547). Referring to this year’s unprecedented figures, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, in his briefing to the Security Council, observed that “although many of the structures that have been demolished are not dwellings, the loss of water wells, solar panels and animal shelters has impacted the livelihoods of over 2,500 people.” Throughout the West Bank, demolitions generate a coercive environment that exacerbates the risk of forcible transfer of already vulnerable Palestinian communities.
The vast majority of demolitions occur in Area C, where the planning system makes it almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain the requisite Israeli-issued building permits. One especially vulnerable community in the Nablus governorate, Khirbet Tana, experienced in April its fourth wave of demolitions so far this year. Dkaika, a Bedouin community in southern Hebron profiled in this month’s bulletin, came under heightened risk of forcible transfer following the Israeli authorities’ announcement of their intention to “relocate” it.
Developments in April led to a deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. On 8 April, the Gaza Power Plant (GPP) shut down after exhausting its fuel reserves, prolonging the electricity outages and further undermining the delivery of services and the already limited economic activity. The functioning of the GPP has been significantly impaired over the past several years by multiple factors, including a longstanding dispute between Palestinian authorities in Gaza and Ramallah over the taxation of the fuel used to run the plant. A temporary agreement reached at the end of April allowed a return to the previous schedule of twelve hour rolling blackouts by mid-May.