Current Issues on the Ground

September 26, 2007

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)

Movement and Access: Roadblocks
442: Number of impediments (roadblocks, checkpoints, and gates) to movement and access of Palestinians. According to Israeli government figures, 71 of these checkpoints are manned.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has presented a plan to remove 24 of the permanent checkpoints in order to ease restrictions on Palestinians.

Movement and Access: Transportation
Travel within the West Bank is complicated by a two-tier road system, which reserves 1,661 km of road for Israelis only. Palestinian-only “Fabric of Life” roads constructed by the Israeli government have been criticized by human rights organizations for further separating Palestinians from main routes.

The 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access (AMA) calls for the development of a Palestinian port or airport, however no movement has been made on that front.

Movement and Access: Economic Aspects
400: Average number of export trucks that were to pass through the Karni crossing by the end of 2006 according to the AMA.

32: Average number of export trucks allowed to pass through Karni crossing between Israel and Gaza as of July 2007, double the average number from 2006.

18%: Number of West Bank firms selling into East Jerusalem, a 3% drop between 2000 and 2005.

Currently, Palestinian exports and imports must pass through Israel. Prior to the Hamas takeover in June 2007, there had been progress on developing the Rafah crossing with Egypt into a Palestinian export gate, but that project has been suspended indefinitely.

Security Cooperation
The Palestinians and Israel largely broke off security cooperation after the second Palestinian intifada began. In April 2006, Israel formally suspended security coordination with the Hamas-led Palestinian government. However, on July 3, 2007, Israel announced that it would resume security cooperation talks with the Fatah government in the West Bank.

The United States has allocated $80 million for the training of President Abbas’ presidential guard to support Palestinian security efforts. The plan was formulated by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israel has said it considers the strengthening of Palestinian security forces to be in its interests.

Prisoners
11, 000: Number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails

87: Number of Palestinian prisoners to be freed as a gesture of goodwill by the Israeli Government on the eve of Ramadan.

250: Number of Palestinian prisoners freed in the last Israeli prisoner release, July 20, 2006.

Gilad Shalit: An IDF soldier captured by Hamas militants in a June, 2006 raid. An audio tape of Shalit was released in June, 2007 in which he said his health was deteriorating and asked the Israeli government to release Palestinian prisoners in trade for his release. Hamas has denied the Red Cross access to Shalit, but is in negotiations with Israel for the soldier’s release.

Electricity
20%: Portion of Palestinian Authority budget allocated to meet outstanding amounts owed to the Israeli Electricity Corporation. The West Bank receives its electricity from the Israeli Electricity Corporation.

Gaza’s electricity is provided mostly by Israel as well, but also receives power from Egypt and a European Union funded power plant inside Gaza.

Israel recently declared Gaza a “hostile entity” and is considering cutting services, including electricity, in response to Qassam rockets being fired into Israel.

Water
The 1994 Gaza-Jericho Accords transferred responsibility for water and sewage in Gaza and the West Bank to the Palestinians. However, the Gaza strip remains dependent on Israel today for all of its basic services, including water. In the West Bank, Palestinians are allotted a percentage of the water from area aquifers.

17%: Percentage of total water in West Bank aquifers allotted for Palestinian use.

15 years: Time remaining before Gaza Strip runs out of drinkable water, as estimated by the UN.



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In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

08/20/10
Center for American Progress Welcomes Resumption of Direct Talks  —
08/10/10
A View from the Ground  —Darbaz Kosrat Rasul, chair, Rebaz Foundation. Interview with Middle East Bulletin.
08/03/10
U.S.-Turkish Relations  —Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr., recently returned deputy ambassador in Afghanistan; former ambassador to Egypt (2005-2008); and deputy chief of mission and charge d'affaires in U.S. embassy in Turkey (1995-1999). Congressional Testimony.

Setting the Record Straight

Eye Still on the Ball

“Adverse developments in Iraq will be (and will look to be) increasingly a function of the Obama Team taking their eye off of the ball and rushing to declare mission accomplished. Yes, in such a scenario the Iraqis should bear most of the blame, but the part that is due to U.S. action or inaction will be Obama's responsibility. And it will matter. Iraq is at the center of a region that every president since Jimmy Carter has identified as vital to our national security. Iraq is next door to, and the playground for mischief from, the most thorny national security challenge the United States faces: a nuclear-weapons-seeking Iranian regime. These inconvenient facts mean that if the Iraqi situation demands more focused and costly U.S. attention, it will likely get it. At that point, what sort of domestic coalition will be available for President Obama's Iraq policy?”
—Peter Feaver, director, Triangle Institute for Security Studies; former director for defense policy and arms control, National Security Council, “Obama’s Iraq Speech: Another Missed Opportunity,” Foreign Policy, August 3, 2010versus
  • “Iraq is a strategically important place in the Middle East, just by its geographic location, by its population, by the influence it's had in the Middle East for a long time. So neighboring countries from around the Middle East have an interest inside of Iraq.

    “But I will tell you that I think Iraqis themselves are nationalistic in nature, and that's why it's important. A strong Iraq will defend itself against interference from outside countries, and I think as we build a strong Iraq and as we continue to build a strong security mechanism and as we continue to help them economically and diplomatically, that will make it less likely of others from the outside being able to interfere.

    “Now, for the vacuum as we see today, again, I remind everyone is that we still have a significant presence here, and we are not going to—we will not allow undue maligned influence on the Iraqi government as they attempt to form their government. What we're trying to do is provide them the space and time for them to do that, and we will continue to do that post 1 September. We'll still have a significant civilian presence, and again, we'll still have 50,000 troops on the ground here to ensure that this government can be formed by the Iraqis. And that all the other nations respect their sovereignty as they go about forming their government.”
    —General Ray Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, interview, “This Week” with Christiane Amanpour, August 8, 2010

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