In Brief: Humanitarian magazine shines a light on OPT

Photo: Shabtai Gold/IRIN

A number of articles focus on the impact of the Israeli barrier and closure system (file photo)

DUBAI, 6 October 2009 (IRIN) - The latest issue of Humanitarian Exchange, a monthly magazine for humanitarian practitioners, highlights “the crisis of dignity” in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). A number of articles focus on the impact of the Israeli barrier and closure system.

“Locked in by a medieval siege whose enforcers decide what items will be allowed in and what people will eat, Gaza has become a ‘humanitarian welfare society’ supported by the international community,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in OPT, said in an article in the September issue.

At the same time, despite billions of dollars pledged at the Sharm El-Sheikh donor conference in March 2009, homes and schools cannot be repaired due to the ban on the entry of construction materials, Lazzarini said.

In another article, according to Ray Dolphin, a barrier specialist with OCHA OPT, if construction of the barrier goes ahead as planned, the rural hinterland will be cut off, further reducing Palestinian access to land and water resources.

at/cb