Facts on the ground

The Israeli government disregarded the Palestinian Authority and attacked the Palestinian people and infrastructure long before Hamas was an electoral majority in the PA. Here are some statistics on the attacks from September 2000 to March 2004, gathered by the Palestine Monitor.

Deaths and injuries: 2,859 Palestinians killed, 19 percent of them children; more than 41,000 have been injured and 2,500 permanently disabled.

Attacks on medical personnel and services: 25 medical personnel were killed while on duty, 425 injured and 121 ambulances attacked and damaged. Palestine Medical Committee ambulances were denied access at roadblocks 991 times. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 129 sick Palestinians actually died at roadblocks, denied access to treatment. Hospitals and clinics were attacked and damaged 291 times and 71 emergency personnel and volunteers arrested.

Checkpoints: 120 Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza divide the West Bank into 300 separate clusters and the Gaza Strip into three separate clusters. The West Bank was held under severe internal closure 66 percent of the days, and partial internal closure 34 percent of the days; Gaza 94 percent of the days. Closure causes water and gas shortages and other humanitarian problems.

Arrests and detentions: Since March 2002, 15,000 Palestinians have been detained, 6,000 of whom remain imprisoned; 1,700 have neither been tried nor had charges brought against them. Some 350 Palestinian children are incarcerated, 30 without being charged. Many of the prisoners are subjected to torture and don’t receive adequate medical attention.

Property damage: More than $666 million (U.S.) in Palestinian residential property was destroyed or looted; 720 homes destroyed by selling and demolition, and 11,553 damaged, affecting 73,600 people; 34,606 olive and fruit trees were uprooted, 1162.4 dunums of land confiscated and 14,339 dunums of land bulldozed or burned. (A dunum equals one-quarter acre.)

Economic conditions: Total income losses were estimated at between $3.2 billion to $10 billion. This does not include the cost of the destruction of public and private property. Total income lost in wages was $59.4 million. Unemployment in Gaza was 67 percent, in West Bank 48 percent. Israel prevented 125,000 Palestinians from going to work.

The wall: The border between Israel and the West Bank is 230 miles, but the 15-foot concrete wall now being built will be double that length, snaking through the West Bank, separating and strangling Palestinian communities. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs Director David Shearer said the establishment of the wall has led to the confiscation of 35,000 dunums of West Bank land so far.

—J. Chediac