10 min.

50 years of occupation

Reports

The year 2017 marks 50 years since the beginning of the Israeli military occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). Apart from the 1948 war, or “Nakba” (catastrophe), when around 700,000 Palestinians were displaced from their lands and became refugees, the military occupation of the oPt in 1967 has been the most devastating event for Palestinians in the last century. During the Six Day War in 1967, which resulted in the military occupation of the oPt, an additional 300,000 Palestinians, many of whom had been refugees since 1948, fled their lands to nearby countries. Israel took full control over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem (as well as the Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula), and placed its indigenous population under Israeli military rule, excluding East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, which were illegally annexed by Israel.

This report captures the economic, developmental and humanitarian impact of occupation-related practices and policies after 1967. The report focuses on two intertwined perspectives of the ongoing impact of occupation. The first encapsulates the political economy of occupation-related policies, including resulting structural distortions, and the consequential “de-development” process. The second traces the humanitarian impact of those economic distortions and the numerous policies related to Israel’s occupation which impact the daily lives and livelihoods of Palestinians in the oPt, and particularly explores the humanitarian impact, as it relates to issues of movement, access to essential services such as health care, and the impact of occupation on children and youth.

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