INTERNATIONAL AID AGENCIES URGE EU TO PROTECT PALESTINIAN LAND
Tehran, 16 Rajab 1434/26 May 2013 (MINA) – A group of 82 international aid agencies has urged the European Union to act upon pledges it had made last year to protect Palestinian lands from Israeli settlement expansion.
Press TV quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting that the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) said in a report that not enough action had been taken since EU foreign ministers criticized Tel Aviv’s settlement policy in the occupied West Bank last May.
According to AIDA, since last May, Israel has destroyed some 535 Palestinian-owned homes and structures — including 30 built with EU funding — and has constructed over 600 settler units.
The report added that at least 784 Palestinians had been displaced as a result of Israeli activities since last year.
“Israel is morally and legally responsible for the wellbeing of Palestinian men, women and children. EU countries have an obligation to address violations of international law and collectively put pressure on Israel to end policies impeding Palestinian development,” Tony Laurence from the charity organization Medical Aid for Palestinians said in the report.
The AIDA report added that Israel has also approved to build 1,967 new settler units since last May.
The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.
About AIDA
The AIDA founded in 1995, a membership body and coordination forum of the international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) that share a common interest in promoting appropriate development and humanitarian programmes in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).
AIDA seeks to support the Palestinian people’s self-development by providing a mechanism for member INGOs to work collaboratively. Its core functions are networking the relief and development assistance community, facilitating information-sharing, and promoting advocacy, security, and training. Currently AIDA has 82 members.
The mission of AIDA is pursued through a wide range of activities, including providing forums for regular discussion on operational issues, coordinating joint actions to help members conduct their work and achieve their aims, advocating on issues as agreed by members and organising joint advocacy activities.
The AIDA also providing a bridge between the INGO community and Palestinian civil society and NGOs, facilitating cooperation and coordination with the broader donor community, serving as a contact for external bodies that require information about INGO activities in the oPt.
Recently the AIDA advocacy sub-committee took a tour of the Gush Etzion road and surrounding road construction to look at the impact that the road and the soon-to-be-built Separation Wall will have on the current residents living west of Bethlehem, including the population of Al-Walaja Village, which is already divided and comprised of residents who have already been displaced at least twice since 1967. (T/P09/E1).
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).
