■ That
the discriminatory policie s and practice s impose d on us by the
Occupation ce ase imme diate ly. The se ille gal practice s include home
de molitions, force d e victions, force d re -location, the Wall and its
associate d re gime and se ttle me nts.
is That our right to fre e ly choose whe re to live be re spe cte d, and whe n our
re location and re se ttle me nt prove ine vitable , we are consulte d and have
our ne e ds take n into account in any re location policy and planning
re gime .
2. Work and Social Se curity
Social Security
The social security system is very limited for all Palestinians in the West Bank, regardless of
refugee status. Unless you are employed by the Palestinian Authority you have no he alth
insurance or pe nsion syste m. Whilst this certainly affects our social security, we are not
discriminated against as a minority group in this case because this affects all Palestinians. As
Bedouin with collapsing livelihoods due to the restrictions in access to natural resources we have
no access to credit or micro-finance enterprises because the level of our debts is so high that we
cannot qualify.
Work pre-Intifada and work now:
Since we came to the West Bank the role of Bedouin in the Palestinian economy used to be very
clear cut. There used to be three clear types of people in the West Bank -Herders, farmers and city
residents. Each one had a clear role in the economic structure of their country. As the livestock
dependent population of Palestine we would provide meat and milk products to the Palestinian
markets. This was an accepted position and it worked well. Livestock markets were very strong
here.
Since the beginning of the second Intifada in 2000 however our livelihood has moved into a state
of collapse. We can no longer sustain the tradition. This has an immediate impact on market prices,
which have spiralled out of control. The meat and milk products now available on the market are
extremely expensive because we have to spend so much to produce them, and therefore people
cannot buy. The rest of society blames the Bedouin for this inflation, as if we have chosen to
destroy our livelihood ourselves. The resulting social isolation further adds to our marginalisation.
So as we watch our traditional livelihood collapsing, we ask ourselves what else we can do, But
for thousands of years our tribes have depended on livestock management, and this collapse is
happening so fast that we do not yet have alternative coping strategies.
For this reason, when we focus on access to work for the Bedouin minority in Area C of the West
Bank we have to go back to the questions of access to education and all other essential services.
Access to essential services:
For many Area C Bedouin the loss of livelihood means they can no longer afford to pay for the
school bus to transport their children to schools, or to access other basic services. This means, for
example, that health issues remain unaddressed and school attendance is sporadic. Those children
who do go to school on a regular basis come home to sub-standard shelter and a lack of