BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

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Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (2006-2007)
f) The right to work
Palestinian citizens, including IDPs, have the same right to employment as Jewish nationals of Israel, and
discrimination with regard to employment is prohibited. However, Palestinians experience informal discrimination
in both the public and private sectors. 70
4.3.2 Protection of Palestinian Refugees and IDPs in the 1967-occupied Palestinian Territory
In the 1967-occupied Palestinian territory, 4.0 million Palestinians effectively live under the military control of
Israel; at least 2.8 million of them are refugees and/or IDPs. Under international humanitarian law, their protection
is the responsibility and duty of the occupying power, Israel, and not the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is a nonsovereign
entity under occupation that lacks the power to protect. In practice, the status and rights of Palestinian
refugees and IDPs in the 1967-occupied territory are partially regulated by Palestinian Authority civil law, but this
is in turn restricted by thousands of Israeli occupation policies.
Jahalin bedouin facing displacement and living near the Jewish colonies of Qedar and Ma’ale Adumim near Jerusalem, August 2006. © Anne Paq.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) characterizes the situation as “the complex interaction
of a lack of protection of the civilian population materializing by gross human rights abuses and increased violence [and] a
lack of access leading to restricted movement of persons and goods within, to, and from the OPT.[…]” 71
a) The right to life
In the occupied Palestinian territory, protection of civilians remains a serious concern due to Israel’s unwillingness
to protect Palestinian civilians. During 2006, 678 Palestinians were killed in the OPT and Israel as a result of
ongoing conflict. This figure represents a 215% increase of the 2005 figure. 72 Since the beginning of the second
intifada in 2000, over 5,000 Palestinians have been killed and 49,760 injured by the Israeli army. 73 Although accurate
figures cannot be established, it is estimated that approximately half of those killed or injured were refugees
or IDPs. Refugee children in UN schools are not safe either. 74 Over 160 UNRWA students have been killed and
approximately 1,600 injured since the beginning of the second intifada (October 2000 to December 2006).