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Noor: the human face of life in Bethlehem in the twenty first century

LIGHTS DANGLE above the streets as craftsmen try to entice the holiday crowds with carved Nativity figures. Christmas is the peak tourist period for Bethlehem but the seasonal message remains depressingly bleak for Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank.

Ask teenager Noor Rabia. He was playing in the street near his home in the West Bank when curiosity prompted him to pick up a piece of metal piping. It was an explosive device and blew up in his hand, filling his body with shrapnel. Doctors had no choice but to amputate the shattered remains of his right hand. Since the November 2006 explosion, he has suffered panic attacks and has been haunted by images of his hand lying on the ground.

“I had lost all hope in life. I hated this life,” he told me when I visited the Young Men’s Christian Association in Bethlehem, a partner organisation of Christian Aid. Using counselling and training, the YMCA helps rehabilitate people who have been injured in conflict. For too many people, this is the reality of life in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is in the West Bank, which along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

Palestinians have some limited control over daily affairs, such as education. But the situation there – especially for the children who make up more than half of the population – remains grim amid violence, poverty and despair. Poverty in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has increased more than threefold since 1993 while violence on both sides has increased.

Bethlehem is surrounded on three sides by a barrier that cuts the town off from neighbouring East Jerusalem. Israel says the barrier is to protect Israeli citizens from attacks by Palestinian militants. But Palestinians complain that the barrier – built mainly on Palestinian land – is driving them from their land. The barrier and Israeli checkpoints make going to work and school a daily struggle. Freedom of movement is hampered by more than 600 checkpoints, roadblocks and other obstacles within the West Bank, according to the UN. Failure to secure a lasting solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is causing poverty to deepen and violence and despair to persist. The international community has repeatedly voiced its commitment to a viable Palestinian state, but has yet to define what this means.

Meanwhile facts on the ground undermine this notion of Palestinian statehood as Israeli settlements expand on occupied territory. Nearly 500,000 Israelis live in more than 100 settlements built throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, another partner of Christian Aid. These settlements are for exclusive Israeli use – the 2.5 million Palestinians of the West Bank are not allowed to enter them without permission, or to use the majority of the roads that connect these settlements to each other and to Israel.

In November, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a potential 10-month lull in permits for new settlement homes – broadly in line with calls from the UK, EU and US to halt expansion. Yet municipal buildings and building will continue for about 3,000 homes under construction in the West Bank. The Palestinians have said that they will not re-enter peace negotiations until Israel freezes all building work in settlements.

Settlements are illegal under international humanitarian law. It forbids transfer of civilian population into territory occupied in war. Settlements have also played a significant role in increasing Palestinian poverty levels, through loss of land, livelihood, and restrictions on freedom of movement.

There are a number of reasons why Israelis choose to live in settlements: housing tends to be cheaper there than in cities such as Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, and some services are subsidised. Some Israelis also hold that this territory should be part of a greater Israel and by living there they stake their claim to the land. Whatever the motives of individual families, it is clear that successive Israeli governments have not only permitted but actively supported settlement expansion and the movement of a large civilian population into occupied territory. The settlements have damaged the economy and mean a greater Israeli military presence in the West Bank to protect the settlers. Restrictions on movement within Palestinian areas prevent them from getting proper education and healthcare and stop them from seeing friends and family.

So we have political stalemate. Breaking this stalemate requires bold steps. The goal is a long-term, just and peaceful solution that guarantees viability and security for both Palestinians and Israelis. An end to occupation will be the bedrock of any viable solution. One of the bold steps necessary is a total freeze on all settlement activity, including for those under construction. Freedom of movement for Palestinians is just one of the other conditions necessary to help build a viable state that exist peacefully alongside Israel.

Our wish is for a much brighter future for Noor, and the many other young people like him who have been maimed or killed during these years of violence. Noor, now aged 17 and a bright young man, has been given a prosthetic hand with help from the YMCA and is looking forward to a brighter future working with computers. Yet he still struggles to deal with what happened to him. Children still play around the alleyways of the refugee camp, acting out the violent games they see on television or the streets outside.

It is for people like Noor that the international community must grasp the opportunity to work towards a viable Palestinian state in 2010. They must create the conditions that will bring all sides to the negotiating table again. If not, the lives of future generations of Palestinians and Israelis will continue to be dogged by insecurity and uncertainty.

Noor’s name has been changed for this article.