Humanitarian Support to Protect Palestinians in the West Bank from Forcible Transfer - PJ/2018/31

Palestinian communities and individuals in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are protected from forcible transfer. Building on previous DGD Actions in the oPt, this Action supports a strategic partnership between DG-ECHO, nine EU Member States and five INGOs - the West Bank Protection Consortium –formed in 2015 to develop a coordinated, protection-centered humanitarian response to international law violations, which is aimed at preventing the forcible transfer of Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Specifically, this Action will provide protection and relief to 16,853 direct beneficiaries through: emergency responses to 11,821 individuals affected demolitions and settler-related incidents; resilience-building support to 5,032 communities facing severe protection threats and suffering from chronic humanitarian vulnerabilities; and humanitarian advocacy with 530 interlocutors to challenge policies and practices related to forcible transfer. Humanitarian context : The situation in the oPt remains a protracted protection crisis with humanitarian consequences, driven by a lack of compliance with international law on the part of the Occupying Power. There is an increasing need to support 482,000 Palestinians in the West Bank who routinely experience violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) related to policies of forcible transfer. The coercive environment which gives rise to forcible transfer manifests itself through a discriminatory permit regime for construction, lack of access to basic services, evictions and planned relocations, confiscation and destruction of property, obstruction of humanitarian assistance, land expropriation, settlement expansion, construction of the Wall, movement and access restrictions, declarations of firing zones and closed areas, settler violence and military operations.

Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are protected from individual and mass forcible transfer through emergency responses, resilience-building support and humanitarian advocacy