TITLE: ISRAEL/PALESTINE – POVERTY IN THE WEST BANK
DATE AND LOCATION: JUNE 2006, WEST BANK, TUBAS.
PRODUCTION: PATRICK MOUNOUD, VIRGINIE LOUIS
LENGTH: 09' 50"
SOURCE: ICRC – ACCESS ALL


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More and more Palestinians are falling into poverty. A study recently completed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and launched on 21 November 2006 indicates that about 60 per cent of households in the West Bank and Gaza are considered to be poor or very poor, and income levels overall have decreased. According to the report "Household Economy Assessment" (available at www.icrc.org), the cut in funding to the Palestinian Authority and continuous closures have compounded a long-term economic deterioration over the past four years.

Direct address to read the report:

These two stories show the impoverished lives of the Masri and Baniodeh families in the West Bank.

FAMILIES OF DETAINEES LIVING IN POVERTY

In the Tubas region of the West Bank, the ICRC team distributes food boxes to Palestinians in need. This includes the Masri family, whose house was destroyed by the Israeli army when their eldest son, Imad Hamad, was imprisoned. They have eight other children and need to take care of their other son's children who is also in jail. The mother, Fadah, suffers from acute diabetes, which has made her nearly blind. She lost her leg and needs to move around in a wheelchair. She says "I need my son to take care of me, to buy me medicine, to take me to hospital. I don't have anybody who is able to take care of me"

The family’s life now revolves around visits to the Israeli prison where Imad Hamad is being held. Without the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and its Family Visits Programme, these meetings would be virtually impossible.

For the past seven years, Imad Hamad's father has not been allowed to visit his son in prison.

ITW father Hamad Masri (Arabic): "Ever since my son Imad was put in prison I've been depressed. Everything around me has broken down. There is not a single day I don't think of him."

ITW mother Fadah Masri (Arabic): "During the visits all I do is cry. He is behind a glass window. I can't see him. He has to use a telephone to talk to me. I can only talk. I can't enjoy his presence. I would like this window to be opened. I want to see him, to sit next to him, to kiss him, to hug him."

On this occasion, the prisoner's sister Raida, his younger brother Wassam and his mother Fadah are about to make the complicated journey to the Gilboa prison in Israel.

They have to wake at dawn. There isn't far to travel, but multiple checkpoints and administrative formalities slow the journey down.

Leaving their father behind once again, the family takes a taxi from their new home in the village of Aqaba to the neighbouring city of Tubas. Here they join other families also visiting prisoner relatives in Israel, and travel on a bus hired by the ICRC.

ITW sister Raida Masri (Arabic): "Of course it's not like being together at home but he is happy to see us. At least he is in touch with us through the family visits, although his spirit is low because it's not like home."

After a brief stop in Jenin, the bus arrives at Jalameh checkpoint on the Israeli border. The administrative formalities here are time consuming, as for today, the ICRC is organizing the trip of more than 350 people visiting their relatives in prison.

After passing the crossing point on foot, they travel on an Israeli bus.

Finally they arrive at Gilboa prison. Thanks to the ICRC's Family Visits Programme, 95 prisoners at the Gilboa and Shata prisons in Israel are able to have family visits twice a month for 45 minutes. In the past year, Imad Hamad's mother has been given permission three times to visit her son, and a further three times her request to visit has been refused for reported security reasons.

ITW Julien Lerisson, ICRC Delegate (French): "Nothing can replace the visit in the prison where they can get fresh news from the prisoner and meet him personally"

Each time Imad Hamad's family hears their name called by the prison staff, it's always a moment filled with emotion. Today is particularly special, because Raida has been given permission to see her brother for the first time in seven years.

But there's a problem. Raida's permission to visit her brother is refused by the prison officials, despite having received prior official authorisation from the Israeli authorities. In the end, it's only the prisoner's mother and younger brother who are allowed to visit him.

After a long day, the moment they have been waiting for has finally arrived. Imad Hamad appears, smiling. He is now 35 years old, and he is serving a life sentence since he was 19.

As with the other prisoners, the discussion happens by telephone and a pane of glass separates them. For Fadah, this is always a great source of frustration. She would like to be able to hold her son in her arms.

After 45 minutes they have to say good-bye. The visit is over.

Every month since the beginning of 2006, the Family Visits Programme allows more than 22,000 people to visit members of their family held in Israeli prisons.

DOPESHEET
Story shot June 7th-8th 2006
0'00": Aqaba village (West Bank), olive trees next to Masri home and ICRC delegate with car
0'12": father Imad Masri welcoming ICRC delegates
0'24'': distribution of goods
0'39'': ITW mother Fadah Masri (Arabic):
"I need my son to take care of me, to buy me medicine, to take me to hospital. I don't have anybody who is able to take care of me"

0'51'': ITW father Hamad Masri (Arabic): "Ever since my son Imad was put in prison I've been depressed. Everything around me has broken down. There is not a single day I don't think of him."
1'14": ITW mother Fadah Masri (Arabic): "During the visits all I do is cry. He is behind a glass window. I can't see him. He has to use a telephone to talk to me. I can only talk. I can't enjoy his presence. I would like this window to be opened. I want to see him, to sit next to him, to kiss him, to hug him."
1'37": sister, brother and mother boarding taxi
1'58": tearful father watching taxi leaving without him
2'07": Tubas (West Bank), younger brother waiting as ICRC bus arrives
2'28": documents checked by ICRC employee
2'35": bus ride
2'45": ITW sister Raida Masri (Arabic): "We see him from afar and he barely sees us. Of course he is happy to see us , but it's not like being together at home. At least he is in touch with us through the family visit, although his spirit is low because it's not like home."
3'05": ICRC bus en route to Israeli check point of Jalameh
3'18": families crossing check point with ICRC delegates
3'43": families boarding Israeli buses
3'34": exterior high security prison of Gilboa (Israel), relatives of detainees waiting
4'01": CU various documents
4'07": ITW Julien Lerisson, ICRC Delegate (French):
"Nothing can replace the visit in the prison where they can get fresh news from the prisoner and meet him personally."
4'14": Masri family with ICRC Delegate walking to visit hall entrance
4'31": prison officer calling visiting relatives
4'42": NAT SOUND ICRC Delegate Julien Lerisson (English): "But she has a security permit. She received it from Bet El. She received for the first time in seven years the security permit. So Bet El (Israeli military headquarters in the West Bank ) has agreed."
5'06": sister crying
5'09": relatives talking to prisoners in visit hall
5'13": mother and younger brother talking to inmate Imad Hamad
5'31'': general view on prisoners on the phone in the family visit room.
5'35": Imad Hamad waves good-bye as he leaves the visitors hall
5'37": families leaving, ICRC delegate, mother crying on wheelchair
5'55": END of first film


FARMERS ENTRENCHED IN THEIR FIELDS

It is not easy to be a Palestinian farmer and live in the "C" zone of the West Bank. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is one of the few organizations who has access to this area.

Under the Oslo agreement, the occupied West Bank is divided into three zones: Zone A, under Palestinian administration, Zone B under Palestinian and Israeli administration, and Zone C under Israeli administration. Zone C comprises 60 per cent of the land.

The family of Aref Baniodeh has always lived in A'tuf in the Tubas region. Rearing sheep and growing cereal has given him a decent livelihood, enough to raise 14 children. During harvest time, hiring a tractor is indispensable.

Since January 2006, however, their situation has deteriorated. The Israeli army has dug trenches in Aref Baniodeh's fields to prevent access to military zones as well as prevent anyone from approaching the fields of the neighbouring Israeli settler, seen in the distance.

ITW of Aref Baniodeh (Arabic): "It's an obstacle which is creating a lot of problems for us, a lot. It has cut us off from my other fields. Be careful: there is another trench over there!"

After only a brief warning, the Israeli army demolished the Baniodeh family's home and farm buildings worth 12'000 euros. They had to find shelter and were provided with an emergency tent by the ICRC. The family then re-built a makeshift home for their animals and themselves, which is covered in stitched jute bags.

According to the Israeli authorities, the house was demolished on the grounds that it was constructed without permit. Aref Baniodeh has been living there for the past 30 years.

ITW of Aref Baniodeh (Arabic): "They've destroyed all. We had about 200 meters for barns and it was destroyed. And then the 80 meters for the accommodation. The bathroom was also destroyed. They just levelled everything"

ICRC delegates regularly meet with farmers in the region. They intervene on their behalf to the Israeli authorities, and provide them with aid when necessary.

ITW Laurence Perroud, ICRC Delegate (English): "The ICRC intervenes toward the Israeli civil administration and we remind the occupying power that these destructions are illegal and if we hear about the destruction in advance we try of course to avoid it reminding that it's illegal and if we can't avoid it at least that they should give the people as much time as possible for them to be able to evacuate their private belongings from inside the house in order that as little as possible of their own belongings is being destroyed in the process."

When Aref 's house was destructed, Laurence brought a tent and household items kit for the family to cook and survive the winter months.

On his side, Areg Baniodeh is trying to assert a property rights claim with the help of Israeli lawyers, but so far has met with little success. Access to the West Bank for Israeli lawyers isn't easy. Evidence of land property is difficult to gather and there are disagreements between Palestinian Authorities and the Israeli administration in the delimitation of zone C. Nevertheless, Aref Baniodeh remains philosophical about the situation:

ITW of Aref Baniodeh (Arabic): "You are talking about the future but there is no future here, zero! It's life! There are no jobs. It's the way it is here. You really want me to tell you?... We just live the way we can!"

Surviving on what they produce themselves, the family is determined to continue living here as they have no other place to go to.

The trenches created by the Israeli army have made moving around difficult and expensive for the farmers. They have to make long detours to find alternative routes, which aren't cut off by the trenches. People are tempted to take shortcuts and venture in restricted military zones. Nevertheless, Aref Baniodeh is carrying on, imperturbable, working his land and raising his livestock.

DOPESHEET
6'00": tractor
6'09": Aref Baniodeh collecting bails of hay
6'19": trench dug by Israeli army in the fields
6'22": trench and Israeli settlement of Kirbeth Aref in the background
6'26": ITW of Aref Baniodeh (Arabic): "It's an obstacle which is creating a lot of problems for us, a lot. It has cut us off from my other fields. Be careful: there is another trench over there!"
6'38": Aref Baniodeh taking water from his well, trench in the background
6'55": ICRC emergency tent given to the Baniodeh family, pans left to destroyed house of the Baniodeh family and behind the rubble, a makeshift shelter made from coffee bags
7'10": Aref Baniodeh and spouse sitting in front of shelter
7'16": ITW of Aref Baniodeh (Arabic): "They've destroyed all. We had about 200 meters for barns and it was destroyed. And then the 80 meters for the accommodation. The bathroom was also destroyed. They just levelled everything"
7'33": ICRC delegates arrive at Aref Baniodeh's shelter
7'54": CU cadastral map
8'00": ITW of Aref Baniodeh (Arabic): "You are talking about the future but there is no future here, zero ! It's life ! There are no jobs. It's the way it is here. You really want me to tell you ?... We just live the way we can !
8'34": sheep in pen being milked, ICRC delegates and Aref Baniodeh in background
8'45": ITW Laurence Perroud, ICRC Delegate (English): "Most of the time people don't even try to go against the destruction orders because it's a complicated procedure and they don't always understand it. And it costs money, they need to have a lawyer so they don't really bother to go in this difficult procedure. So the IDF comes and they destroy the house.
9'03": ITW Laurence Perroud, ICRC Delegate (English): "The ICRC intervenes toward the Israeli civil administration and we remind the occupying power that these destructions are illegal and if we hear about the destruction in advance we try of course to avoid it reminding that it's illegal and if we can't avoid it at least that they should give the people as much time as possible for them to be able to evacuate their private belongings from inside the house in order that as little as possible of their own belongings is being destroyed in the process.
9'40": Palestinian woman sitting in truck loaded with personal items
9'50": END of second film

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