A mission of the International Federation for Human Rights was in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) between 25 June and 2 July 2006. The mission was set up in order to examine the situation of economic and social rights in Gaza and the West Bank, almost one year after Israel ‘disengaged’ from the Gaza strip, and three months after Israel and the international community decided to suspend all contacts with the government of the Palestinian Authority and to interrupt all aid channelled to and via that government.
Back in Paris and Brussels on July 2nd FIDH launched an immediate appeal and expressed its fear that the strategy of financial sanctions imposed on the PA since the taking of office of the Hamas government on 29 March 2006 would:
– encourage the radicalisation of the Palestinian population ;
– encourage the competition between the Hamas and the Fatah on the one hand, and between the government and the presidency on the other hand, leading to the risk of an open conflict between rival factions ;
– lead to the bankruptcy of the Palestinian Authority, making the establishment of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian State on the 1967 borders less likely, and therefore postponing the establishment of peace in the Middle East ;
– create the conditions which may lead either to the return of Israeli occupation either to a « failed state ».