VZCZCXYZ0004
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHJM #0954 0661322
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 071322Z MAR 06
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0750
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 000954 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR 
WILLIAMS/GREENE/LOGERFO/WAECHTER; NSC FOR ABRAMS, DORAN, 
MUSTAFA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREF EAID ECON KWBG
SUBJECT: OCHA REPORTS ON DIFFICULTIES PALESTINIAN FARMERS 
FACE TRYING TO ACCESS LAND IN SEAM ZONE 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: In a March 1 briefing to diplomats, UN 
OCHA head David Shearer said Palestinian farmers continued to 
face difficulties reaching their land in the "seam-zone" -the 
West Bank area lying between the separation barrier and the 
Green Line.  The difficulties centered on a restrictive 
permit regime and the restrictive system of access gates. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) According to Shearer, more permit requests are 
being rejected on grounds related to property ownership 
rather than security.  In the Qalqilya governorate, he noted, 
land-related issues constituted 11 percent of the permit 
rejections in January 2005, while by July 2005 that number 
had risen to 65 percent.  According to OCHA, permit refusals 
centered on: 
 
-- insufficient proof of first-degree relationship (either 
through a tax document or registration form) to the land 
owner, so most of those rejected for permits included tenant 
farmers, laborers, spouses, and second-degree relatives and 
 
-- insufficient proof of land ownership west of the security 
barrier.  Shearer noted that an amended military order in 
December 2005 required additional documentation to prove 
title to land and to receive a permit.  Partly due to a lack 
of access to resources, including official Israeli maps, 
especially in Area C, which is under full Israeli civil and 
military control, land owners have had difficulty fulfilling 
this new requirement. 
 
-- Under Israeli law, farmers risk dispossession if they do 
not cultivate their land in three consecutive years.  Such 
land can be declared state land. 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Shearer also highlighted what he said were erratic 
schedules for entry through the agricultural gates in the 
separation barriers, which preclude Palestinian farmers from 
regularly reaching agricultural land in the closed areas, 
even if they have a permit.  Out of 42 gates in the Tulkarm, 
Qalqilya, and Salfit governorates, 21 were open (with 
restricted access), five were seasonal (with restricted 
access), and 16 were closed completely.  Shearer described 
the gates as open only for specific periods of time, between 
20 minutes to one hour, three times a day.  Even if a farmer 
only needs to work a field for one or two hours, he often 
must wait several more hours in order to get back through the 
gate when it reopens. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Shearer described reports of farmers traveling 
double or triple the distance to reach their land in closed 
areas due to permits specifying the use of certain gates. 
The permits also do not give the farmer permission to cross 
with tractors or other farm vehicles.  He noted that some 
permits have listed the wrong gate number, forcing the farmer 
to travel even further.  Shearer also described cases of IDF 
soldiers destroying a one-year permit and the Israeli DCL 
refusing to reissue a replacement permit on the grounds that 
a permit had already been issued. 
WALLES