JOINT094 JOINT 17 EOriginal: English

NATO Parliamentary Assembly

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST SPECIAL GROUP

MISSION REPORT*

ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

27 FEBRUARY - 2 MARCH 2017

www.nato-pa.int 17 March 2017

* This mission Report is presented for information only and does not represent the official view of the Assembly. This report was prepared by Paul Cook, Director of the Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group.

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1. From 27 February to 2 March 2017, 24 members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Science and Technology Committee (STC) and its Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group (GSM) visited Israel and the Palestinian Territories to discuss regional security issues, terrorism, water and cyber security and the political, security, social and economic situation in Gaza and the West Bank. The delegation, led by the French MP, Philippe Vitel, also had an opportunity to visit Yad VaShem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, where Mr Vitel laid a wreath to honour the victims of the Holocaust on behalf of the delegation.

2. Benjamin Dagan, the Head of the Centre for Policy Research and Analysis at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided a political assessment of the Middle East region and beyond. The Ministry has just concluded an intelligence assessment and its findings are not particularly optimistic. The region, he said, is set for further disorder as its problems are structural and enduring. 3. The region’s overreliance on energy exports leaves it particularly vulnerable to oil price falls. Fracking in North America has helped place a ceiling on global oil prices and the United States has replaced Saudi Arabia as the world’s “swing producer”. This does not augur well for the region’s oil exporting nations. Budgets are burdened by decades of consumer subsidies which must be cut. But this is politically tricky, particularly in the current situation. The level of unemployment throughout the Arab world stands at 30% and youth unemployment is significantly higher. Demographic trends and poor governance promise no improvement in the situation, virtually ensuring a future of instability and political upheaval. In light of demographic trends, the region’s economies need to generate an additional 60 million jobs over the coming years to lower this figure substantially and this seems very unlikely. The conditions for unrest are evident in these statistics and lie behind many of the protests unfolding throughout the region. Most of these are contained and most government do not want to push their countries into deeper instability. But it is not clear how long this self-control can last given the severity of the problems. Change is made all the more difficult given the authoritarian nature of many of the region’s governments.

4. Although Mosul is far from Israel’s borders, recent fighting there is nonetheless of grave concern to Israeli officials. Daesh1 is now operating near Israel’s borders with both Egypt and Syria and the fight against Daesh conditions that group’s behaviour across a range of theatres. There are already signs that it is preparing for the loss of Mosul and Raqqa by moving assets and personnel closer to the Syrian-Iraqi border. Even if the group loses all claims to have constructed a Caliph, they will still act as a terrorist organisation and they have space to operate given the regional crisis and broad decline of state authority.

5. Israel has already been attacked by Daesh and so it is monitoring the situation very closely. There are, for example, some indications that Daesh in the Sinai has forged links to Hamas and Palestinian jihadists in Gaza. Daesh has fired missiles into southern Israel and its new commander has adopted a significantly more aggressive posture toward Israel. Israel is deeply concerned that it now needs to defend borders with countries that do not exercise full control over their own borders. The Egyptian government sees Hamas as an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation strongly opposed by General Sissi, who is also worried by the growing influence of Iran and Qatar in the region.

6. Iran continues to provide vital support to Hamas and Hezbollah and very recently organised a conference on Palestine attended by roughly 50 countries. At that conference, Ali Khamenei called Israel a cancer that must be removed. Iran totally denies Israel’s legitimacy and frequently make clear that their ambition is simply to eviscerate the Israeli state. According to Mr Dagan, Iran appears to be preparing itself militarily for this end. It is currently testing very advanced long-range rockets and places slogans on these calling for Israel’s destruction. It is also providing an estimated $1 billion a year of support to Hezbollah as well as advanced military equipment. The terrorist organisation has stockpiled an estimated 100,000 rockets in its arsenals, many embedded

1 Arabic acronym of the terrorist organisation “Islamic State in Iraq and Syria”

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in Lebanese Shia villages. These rockets are far more precise than the old arsenal and are considered a highly dangerous threat by Israeli officials. President Assad has begun to strengthen his position south of Damascus toward the Israeli border but it will take some time for him to exercise full control over the borderlands. The implications of this are not entirely clear, although Assad has hardly shown an inclination to take on the Israeli military. His instincts tend to be preservationist and his domestic problems are daunting. For its part, Israel would prefer to avoid a confrontation with Assad.

7. Iran is also deploying significant militia forces in Syria, some of which are deployed near the border with Israel, for example, in the Golan Heights. They have characterised this as the opening of a second front while the Lebanese front remains the principle Israeli concern. Hezbollah is essentially a multinational army which is frequently rotated through different theatres. In Iraq, it has become a kind of parallel army, which accords Iran enormous influence in that country. Iran looks prepared to remain in the Iraq theatre for some time. Some of these forces are operating in Yemen to support the Houthi. There are also indications that Iran may want to construct a naval base in Syria. This would mark a major extension of its naval reach and, as such, is strongly opposed by the Israeli government. Russia is also extending its presence in these waters and likely would not welcome an extension of Iran’s influence here. Israel has consulted Russia on these matters.

8. Russia poses another set of challenges for Israeli authorities. It has substantially beefed up its presence in Syria, is deepening the port around its base in Tartus and hopes to use that base to host heavy warships including nuclear submarines—a matter of concern not only to Israel but obviously also to NATO. Russia has clearly strengthened Assad’s hand, and Syria’s leader is far stronger today than he was a year ago. Russian forces rather than those of Iran are largely responsible for this. For its part, Israel is conducting an important dialogue with Russia but sees Russia’s presence as fundamentally altering the strategic landscape to the north and not in a positive fashion. Russia has been allied with Iran and Israeli officials now want to know if Russia will seek to deter Iran from taking military actions against Israel. Israel has conveyed very clearly that once the Syrian war is settled, it does not want to see Iranian forces in Syria. Russia is also lending support to General Haftar in Libya, and this too reflects its ambition to extend its influence throughout the region.

9. Finally, Israel is also adjusting to a new Administration in the United States. It is very happy that the Trump administration both shares its views on the dangers posed by the Iranian regime and its scepticism about the strategic benefits of the nuclear deal signed with that country. The Administration very forcefully objected to Iranian missile tests and it is interesting that Iran has now delayed these. Israel does not want Iran enriching uranium and feels that once it does, it will be on a conveyor belt toward the construction of a nuclear bomb. Israel is consulting closely with American officials to deal with this issue and acknowledges that many Sunni regimes in the region share their concerns. Finally, Israel’s relations with NATO are also deepening, and it has recently opened a mission to NATO headquarters.

Meetings at the Knesset

10. Erel Margalit, a Labour Party member of the Knesset and leading venture capitalist discussed the success Israel has had in developing its information technology and cyber security sectors. He first noted that he had originally entered politics to help foster a more welcoming business atmosphere for high technology firms, but he is also a strong advocate of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian territorial dispute. Mr Margalit stressed how important the idea of a two-state solution remains to many in Israel and why it is important to reach out to moderate forces in the region. He indicated that economic development must be part of this effort and noted that the challenge of water security, agriculture and energy could be a force to unite the region in a positive manner. He noted that he has close collaborators in Ramallah and that it is important for high tech multinational firms operating in Israel to develop a presence in the Palestinian territories. He said that within the IPU, a trans-national group of parliamentarians from the region are pushing

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for an economic path to reconciliation. He later noted that the problem of the Gaza Strip is particularly difficult. This is an asymmetric struggle he noted, pointing to the use of tunnels for bringing military equipment to Hamas from Egypt which is then used against Israel. He said new approaches are now essential in Gaza and that the suffering of the people there needs to be alleviated. Hamas, however, is not a reliable partner and this obviously poses a serious policy conundrum. 11. Mr Margalit then discussed the serious global challenge to reinforce cyber security and the contributions that Israeli firms can make in this regard. Signs of cyber-attacks are everywhere apparent. A Thyssen furnace recently blew up on a submarine and it was later determined that this the result of a cyber-attack. When Russia intervened in Ukraine, a cyber-attack deprived 250,000 homes of power. There are 67 nuclear power plants in Europe and a number of these are vulnerable to hacking. Banks are also a target; the SWIFT system was recently breached and €90 million was stolen. Iran recently hacked into the Saudi national oil company Aramco’s network and shut down 40,000 computers. Israel can help countries and companies defend these vital systems and it is working to do so.

12. The Israeli state is also in the midst of scaling up its own cyber defences. All countries need to ensure that their defence is robust, that their systems are resilient and they can recover quickly should an attack occur. Efforts are needed to guarantee that attacks and attempted attacks are reported so that information is swiftly and broadly shared. Companies are often reluctant to share this kind of information but when they do, they reinforce national and international security. One of the paradoxes here is that companies often have a better grasp of the problem than national militaries. Generals sometimes have a tendency to fight the last war and some still have trouble fathoming the nature of the cyber threat.

13. Benny Begin, a Likud member of the Knesset, discussed new counter-terrorism legislation passed in the Knesset which seeks to strike a balance between individual rights and national security. He opened his remarks by noting that government policy is rooted in law and the fight against terrorism must be as well. For years, Israel used British colonial laws it inherited to manage some of these challenges. The focus was more on effective struggle against terrorism rather than human rights as such. The Knesset recently set out to achieve a more balanced approach and this has been time consuming and the product of great effort by law makers who were constantly engaged with society and with the expert community. Israel now defines a terrorist act as an action:

1) carried out with a political religious nationalistic or ideological aim. 2) carried out to provoke fear or to compel a government from doing or abstaining from doing

something. 3) that causes serious harm to a person, religious property or infrastructure.

14. Israel has had a long experience with Hamas and lawmakers understand that those whom finance and train terrorists are equally dangerous. Interrogation procedures represent another area of concern. Interrogators need time and context to collect information from suspects, and security officials do not want these interrogations interrupted. If a suspect can be isolated for 14 days before he or she sees a judge, Begin said, then the likelihood of garnering useful information is greatly increased. At the same time, there is no desire to make this an arbitrary process which can quickly lead to abuse. The law states that:

1) the chief interrogator may in a reasoned written decision delay by 48 hours an arraignment before a judge if he or she thinks this might materially harm the investigation. He must give this with a reasoned written decision.

2) that officer, in a reasoned decision and with approval of security agency, can delay for an additional period not exceeding an additional 24 hours or 70 hours total if failure to do so is liable to materially undermine the investigation and threaten the safety of human life.

3) a court can also order a delay for up to 96 hours in particularly perilous circumstances.

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15. Lawmakers in Israel feel these three levels of decision-making strike an efficient and just balance between human rights and the capacity of the government to fight terrorism.

16. Begin said from Israel’s perspective, Iran constitutes the primary strategic threat. This is why concern about that country’s nuclear weapons program runs so deep and why its leaders strongly objected to the nuclear deal Iran struck with the P5+1. Iran is currently testing medium range missiles which, he characterised as a direct threat to Israel. Iran’s leaders have ambitions to develop an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile which would extend its reach far beyond the region.

17. Yaakov Peri, the former head of the Israeli security agency Shin Bet and a Yesh Atid party member of the Knesset, noted that as a member of the opposition he is working hard to provide an alternative to the current government. Perri also expressed his support for a two-state solution and noted that Israel shares an interest with the Palestinian people to resist radicalism and Iranian influence in the Levant. He believes that the current government is losing time in coping with the problem and said that ultimately Israel cannot assume political responsibility for millions of Palestinians. Whether a solution will be achieved through a regional conference or a gradual series of compromises is not clear, he said, the key point is that currently there is insufficient movement toward finding a solution.

18. Peri described the very fragile security situation in Gaza and the West Bank and noted that any mistake by an Israeli soldier can light a fire that would be very difficult to control. The Middle East has become a cradle of instability in ways that we have never before seen, he suggested. This is evident in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and in the role played by outside powers like Russia, which is now challenging the American role in the region. Israel, he noted, is a small democracy that is well aware of its vulnerabilities. Yet it has developed sophisticated systems for coping with this environment although some challenges, like lone wolf terrorists pose particularly daunting challenges.

19. Two days prior to this meeting, an agreement was signed that will launch the development of a huge gas field off the coast of Israel. This could be transformative not only for the Israeli economy but also for its relations with a number of countries. This energy could flow to the Palestinian territories, Turkey, Jordan and ultimately to Europe. The expectation is that this will provide a budgetary boon to Israel

20. Peri also spoke about the highly dynamic economy of Israel particularly in the high-tech sector. In the past three years, more than 300 such companies were established in the country and this is also attracting large multinational corporations to the country. These advances, of course, have security implications in a country which feels besieged and is compelled to defend itself not only in traditional military terms but also on the cyber front. It turns out that cultivating the skills needed to do so has proven a boon to the industry. The fact that Israel is an open society is also important in this regard. Peri stressed that intelligence cooperation with NATO member countries is as critical for Israel as it is for those countries, but he said more needs to be done.

21. Iddo Moed, Cyber Security Coordinator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that the number and quality of cyber-attacks increases every year and the problem is global. While the sophistication of these attacks rises so does the access to the tools needed to launch attacks. Coping with the problem demands effective regulatory frameworks that reach deeply into civil society and the corporate world. This is already difficult at the national level, Mr Moed argued, but the problems multiply when the issue is addressed in international frameworks. When regulations fail to keep pace with the threat, he suggested, vulnerabilities emerge.

22. Israel has seen a spike in attacks since the 2014 operations in Gaza and initially found it difficult to cope with the challenge. It was quickly apparent that the country’s security services, the military, companies and civil society organisations needed to develop deeper collaboration in order to build more robust forms of cyber defence and a more resilient society. The state also needed to develop a capacity to locate the origins of these attacks and develop appropriate responses. This

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effort led to the creation of five university funds to spur critical research in these areas, to spread knowledge and develop human capital.

23. The delegation visited the Black Arrow Monument and Lookout overlooking Gaza where Avi Dichter, a member of the Knesset and a former Director of Shin Bet discussed the Israeli military’s Sinai Campaign in 1956 and traced out the military operations that have taken place in the area since Israel’s founding. He also discussed the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and the 2014 operation called Protective Edge, a seven-week conflict that followed on the heels of the kidnapping and murder of three Israel teenagers by Hamas operatives. That conflict resulted in rocket attacks launched by Hamas on Israeli towns and cities as well as Kibbutzim along the border and the deaths of thousands of inhabitants of Gaza where the fighting took place. Israel characterised this as an anti-terrorist mission and sought to destroy tunnels Hamas had used to launch the kidnapping operation and to smuggle weapons and other contraband. From the Black Arrow Monument, members were able to observe the border between Israel and Gaza and learned about a range of measures undertaken to control and defend that border.

24. Shai Hermesh, a resident of the Kibbutz Kfar Aza bordering Gaza and a former member of the Knesset, hosted the delegation for a discussion about life in his community. He joined the Kibbutz in 1965 and explained that economic conditions for Kibbutzim have changed immensely since then. Already 35 years ago, the residents of Kfar Aza had decided to develop an industrial facet to the community, beginning with plastics manufacturing but eventually moving into advanced materials. The company now has offices in Germany and China among other locations. The Kibbutz runs on Socialist principles but gives ample scope to the capitalist impulse. Traditionally members were equal shareholders in the property and there was no private property as such. If a member inherited land, it was shared with the community.

25. But there are changes here as well and these have been designed to keep young people engaged in the life of the community. Many now live on the Kibbutz but work elsewhere. These people are able to keep their salary but they contribute to a strong social safety net and there is a salary guaranteed to all residents. As for the communally owned businesses, profits are shared but a larger share of the profits is allocated for older members. All those working land near the Gaza strip pay less tax than other Israelis which provides an incentive to work these lands. There are also subsidies for energy. A General Assembly governs life in the Kibbutz and the 245 shareholders are each allocated one vote for key decision-making. The General Assembly also elects an executive board for finance and economy and another for social issues and education.

26. Hermesh noted that there are 25 Kibbutzim located along the Gaza Strip and since September 2007, the beginning of the second Intifada, they have suffered frequent rocket and mortar attacks launched from inside Gaza. These attacks over time have become far more precise as was made evident during the 52-day conflict in Gaza in the 2014 war. The Kibbutz has had to reinforce its buildings and build bomb shelters to ensure all children can quickly find haven in the event of attack. Many of the children are suffering post-traumatic disorders as a result of these attacks. At the height of this conflict, most inhabitants were evacuated to the north. The government reimburses property owners 100% from direct damage linked to rocket and mortar attacks but it does not fully compensate indirect costs such as lost business.

27. Hermesh noted that the political, economic and social situation in Gaza is highly tenuous. Hamas has a strong grip over that densely crowded area’s institutions. He also suggested that the alternative to Hamas could be Daesh. He also noted that 800 trucks pass from Israel into Gaza every day to provide goods needed to feed and outfit the population, but the pressures in that society are enormous. He noted that prior to the conflict, more than 20,000 Gazans crossed into Israel to work each day, many in agriculture, construction and restaurants. They were well paid, particularly in comparison to wages in Gaza itself. That they are no longer able to do so places Gaza in a very difficult position. There are now labourers from Thailand working in Israeli agriculture to replace those from Gaza who can no longer cross the border. Hermesh suggested

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that opening the border would vastly improve life in Gaza and would lower social and political tensions there.

28. The delegation met with a soldier who told the delegation that Israel has a 50-kilometre border with Gaza, and the Gaza Division in which he serves also covers some of the border with Egypt. The Gaza division has two brigades, and each of them has infantry battalions which are responsible for guarding the fence. Soldiers in these battalions are normally deployed for four or six months. The intelligence battalion members have a longer tour of duty given the specialised nature of their work. 29. Hamas-constructed tunnels are a constant concern both for military forces protecting this part of Israel and for Israelis living near the border. Some of these tunnels are thirty meters underground and are difficult to detect. Israeli intelligence is constantly looking for signs of tunnel digging in Gaza and has often been able to identify indications of digging operations. Hamas also shows a preference for striking soft targets so it does not dig toward Israeli bases but rather toward the Kibbutzim, which they consider softer targets. The Egyptian government is also working to prevent tunnel digging beyond the Sinai border with Gaza but there is a lot of money to be made by those trading through these tunnels and so this can be a weak point. When a rocket is launched from Gaza to Tel Aviv, residents have a minute and a half warning to find shelter. In the kibbutzim along the Gaza border, the warning time is roughly 7 to 15 seconds. Hamas uses Palestinian children to check Israeli border procedures and probe for weak points and the IDF has to be careful not to respond militarily to these provocations.

30. The delegation also visited the National Cyber Park in Be’er Sheva. The park is a tripartite collaboration between government, universities and the private sector to help develop technologies and the companies that commercialise them. The Israeli government is providing seed money for these companies in the form of subsidised loans. The delegation met with entrepreneurs from two of these companies. One, New Rocket, founded in 2014, is developing rocket engines that run on environmentally friendly gel propellants. The fuel has properties that allow it to be shut down and reignited, which distinguishes it from solid propellant fuels. And unlike liquid rocket fuel, the gel is not highly toxic and thus is far less costly and cumbersome to work with. In other words, the gel fuel provides the best of the fuels currently used without the same drawbacks. The company is developing prototypes and innovative applications for these rockets. Small rockets could be used to help helicopters or airplanes to manage crash landing scenarios. The technology could also be used to boost satellites launched from planes into orbit.

31. At Source Defense, the delegation learned about one of many cyber defence firms that are sprouting up in Israel. Source Defence focuses on protecting websites from third party scripts which leave those websites vulnerable to cyber-attacks. These third-party scripts can slow down web pages, send users to different webpages, record key strokes and do much of this without detection. Attacks of this nature have taken place on websites like Yahoo, Facebook and Ebay among many others. Source defence creates “virtual sandboxes” which both insulate the sites from attack and allow companies to see what precisely is transpiring on their websites and take requisite action. Source Defence has received seed money, but the rules require that that if the intellectual property is sold out of the country, the repayment requirement triples.

32. At the Sorek desalination and water recycling plant, south of Tel Aviv, the delegation met with Danny Leker, Head of the Water Security and Emergency Division, who spoke on Emergency Preparedness of Israeli Water Infrastructure. He noted that all water in Israel is publicly owned and the national Water Authority Board works to ensure the quality and supply of water-a great challenge in an ever-dryer region. Indeed, by 2050, 45% of the world will be categorised as desert and the Middle East water supplies will have grown even more vulnerable to draught and over use. Israel long relied on water from the Sea of Galilee to provide the country’s drinking water, but this large lake is shrinking. Israel has partly met its growing water demand with five desalination plants which currently provide 70% of the country’s drinking water. But the state has also been engaged in comprehensive efforts to encourage conservation. The agriculture sector relies on treated waste water and employs advanced approaches like drip technology to save water. All houses are

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metered and problems such as leaks are flagged very quickly. Water in Israel is also expensive and this obviously encourages conservation.

33. Water security is a particular source of concern in Israel and it is noteworthy that Hamas tried to strike one of the desalination plants with a rocket. Israel goes to great lengths to defend its water systems and constantly monitors quality and infrastructure including power generation. Water plants have backup generators in the event of problems on the grid and the country has developed a very sophisticated and comprehensive emergency water distribution system in the event of a crisis. This has led to innovations, for example, in establishing portable water distribution stations with flatbed trucks and large plastic bags that can be filled with three thousand litres of water. Israel has thus generated a great deal of knowledge about responses to water emergencies and was able to share this knowledge with Charleston, West Virginia when a pollution event rendered its water undrinkable.

34. Oded Fixler, the Deputy Director General of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance, Ministry of Regional cooperation told the delegation that sea water is now a critical element of the water mix in Israel and that desalinisation plants use reverse osmosis to filter out the salt. He said there is no alternative to this solution. In the water-stressed Middle East, water withdrawal typically accounts for 40% of available water as opposed to 20% in the United States. Israel is now in the midst of its seventh consecutive year of drought and it has been 13 years since its aquifers benefitted from a significant rainfall. Water consumption there is more than 2 billion cubic meters per year while the recharge rate is only 1.2 billion. He noted that Israel provides 66.1 million cubic meters of water to the Palestinian authorities and 54.9 million cubic meters to Jordan.

35. The Oslo Accords included provisions for water sharing between Israel and the Palestinian territories with which it shares an aquifer. According to the terms of the agreement, Israel can extract 300 million cubic meters from the aquifer while the Palestinian territories have a right to 120 million.

36. The implementation of this deal was initially conducted through a joint water committee but it ceased meeting six years ago. In 2016, the two sides agreed to resume the work of the joint water committee. A number of projects are currently lined up to be approved. Israel is negotiating with Palestinian authorities to work to meet their future water needs. The Israel Jordan Peace Treaty also included a water clause and Mr Fixler indicated that Israel provides water to Jordan at a minimum cost. It also releases river water in the summer to that country. He noted that both countries are now coping with a precipitous fall in the waters of the Dead Sea. Higher extraction rates have meant that water from the north is no longer flowing into the Dead Sea. The Red Sea–Dead Sea Conveyance, is a planned pipeline that would connect the Red and Dead seas and provide drinking water to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Sea water would be used to raise Dead Sea water.

37. The delegation also met with Palestinian water authorities and experts who provided a different perspective of the water situation in the region. Ayman Rabi, Executive Director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group, an NGO working on water issues, noted that Jordan, Palestine and Israel all confront serious water shortages. There are three major aquifers in the West Bank and one in Gaza he noted, and the Oslo accords set out water distribution of this water. The Palestinian territories currently receives roughly 8% of this water available, Israel consumes more than 50% and the rest goes to Jordan. Palestine suffers a very serious water deficit and there are political tensions over water access and denial of access to the Palestinians. In current circumstances, Israel decides the timing and the price of water so it exercises almost total control over Palestinian water security. Mr Rabi told the delegation that Israel has diverted the waters of the Jordan River to southern Israel. They have also blocked up the Sea of Galilea, the largest source of fresh water in the region, and the Jordan River has consequently become brackish and dirty.

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38. Indeed, the Jordan river is now at one tenth of its historic flow. This has also been a factor in the lowering of the Dead Sea which is now divided into two parts with the lower part now serving as an evaporation pond used by both Jordan and Israel. Because the Dead Sea has lowered it has also lowered ground water levels in lands at higher elevation and this too has reduced Palestinian water table levels. At the same time, Israel has drilled hundreds of wells outside the Green line. Its wells are very deep and are drawing significant amounts of water away from Palestinian communities. Palestinians are forbidden from drilling into the Western aquifer. Mr Rabi said that Israel does sell water to the Palestinians but the retail prices are very high and there is a suspicion that some of this water is rightfully Palestinian. Israel is shipping water by truck to the West Bank but myriad check points significantly add to the cost of moving water through the territories. Some Palestinians are spending between 20 and 40% of their income on water.

39. In Gaza as well there are serious shortages of water and some of the water is polluted. Mr Rabi said that Israel is drawing some water from the aquifer and there is now a problem of sea water intrusion making some of the water unfit for human consumption. 95% of the water available is either polluted with nitrates and chloride or is brackish. Mr Rabi argued that taken together, Israel’s water policy is to make conditions untenable for the Palestinians and effectively to push them into migration.

40. Settlements are also part of the water story, Mr Rabi suggested. There are now 300,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and they are drawing 75 million cubic meters of water from wells on Palestinian lands. Israel sells some of this water back to the Palestinians. Settlements are also producing pollution, he charged, including solid, human and industrial waste which is often dumped on Palestinian lands. Finally, the security wall is denying Palestinians access to water that they feel is rightfully theirs.

41. In the discussion, members remarked that the narrative Palestinian water experts had laid out was very different from what they had heard on the Israeli side. Anan Jayyousi, a professor at the An-Najah National University in Nablus said that Palestinians only control a small share of the water that is rightfully theirs and said that Palestinian authorities were forbidden from building water treatment plants without hooking these up to the settlements which the Palestinians see as illegal. He said that Palestinians purchase desalinised water from Israel at € 7 per cubic meter. That water is mixed with fresh water and she suggested that it is not clear if some of this is water originating from the Palestinian territories, in which case they would be buying back their own water. It was also pointed out that the right to water is an individual right and that the international agreements state that shared water in the region should be allocated equitably and reasonably. The Joint Water Committee between Israel and Palestine was supposed to resolve conflicting water claims but Palestinian authorities have had problems with it as they do not want to sanction the settlements by agreeing to water rights for them.

42. The delegation also travelled to Ramallah to meet with a group of young social media activists and journalists who have begun to make their voices heard in Palestinian society and beyond. These young people have sought to reclaim the narrative of the Palestinian people from those on both sides of the conflict who have little interest in the daily lives of the Palestinian people. Information technology is now helping Palestinians link up in new ways and share information, stories and perspectives with each other and the rest of the world in an effort to alter the debate, mobilise political activism, regain a sense of agency and affect positive change.

43. Abdel Manem spoke of the restrictions Palestinians confront in exercising control over digital space. Palestinians do not have a 3G system and there are network restrictions as a result. Yet, Palestinians are extremely active on social including Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter. There are numerous start up cyber companies in the territories despite the unfavourable business climate and lack of access to capital.

44. In a region where physical movement is constantly impeded by Israeli authorities, cyber space provides a critical meeting point and vital means of communication. Ashira Ramadan from

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Amnesty International said that both Israeli and Palestinian authorities as well as Hamas are monitoring social media and there have been arrests and violations of basic human rights. Posting has become dangerous and the Israelis are using pre-detention rules to intimidate activists. Simply posting a photograph of those protesting can lead to arrests and there are cases of people who have been arrested and tortured both by Palestinian and Israeli authorities for their writings. She said even taking a photograph of trash on the street can lead to arrest.

45. Diana Khayyat, a journalist and social media activist said that a number of young people are providing critical information to international journalists and this is helping the plight of the Palestinian people to be understood by a significantly wider audience. In the discussion, several of the journalists said it was very important to counter hate speech. Getting real stories out can foster understanding, narrow divisions and counteract the kind of radicalisation that undermines prospects for peace.

46. In Ramallah, the delegation also met with Saeb Ereikat, the Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and its Chief Negotiator. Mr Ereikat opened his remarks by warning about the grave danger posed by Daesh and the broader problem of radicalisation. He said that Daesh can only be defeated by building a democratic order. Those who argue that Arabs are incapable of building and sustaining democracies, he said, are simply racist. The key challenge faced by Arab world is the need to help young people meet their expectations. Daesh and other radicals have exploited this. Daesh, he said, is not a religious movement and it is a mistake to see it as such. Arab children must be taught to live for Allah and not to die for him, he added. At the same time, however, Arab governments need to address critical problems of jobs, education, women’s right and human rights to counter radicalisation while the occupation of Palestine must come to an end.

47. He asked what Prime Minister Netanyahu expects to do with the Palestinian people if the current situation endures and the possibility of a two-state solution is eviscerated. The Jewish people will become a minority in these lands, he argued, and the only solution tabled by this Israeli government would seem to be the creation of an Apartheid order. Mr Ereikat called himself the most disadvantaged negotiator in the world as he lacks both an army and a state. But he feels he has a mandate to save the lives of both Palestinians and Israelis. He said he wants peace and that the Palestinians have recognised Israel’s right to exist along the lines delineated in 1967. East Jerusalem would be the capital of the Palestinian state and West Jerusalem the capital of Israel and the city itself would be open. The Palestinian authority has invited NATO to play a role in upholding any agreement that is negotiated. The problem, Mr Ereikat said, is that under President Netanyahu’s leadership, Israeli settlements in the West Bank have increased by 40%. Some Palestinians now believe that the two-state solution is no longer possible and call for a single state with equal voting rights for all. But Israel would never concede to this.

48. The Palestinian authority is now seeking UN membership and will challenge Israeli policy where it can in international fora. Mr Ereikat stated that the Palestinian leaders are working hard to avoid a holy war which he said would be a disaster. The conflict with Israel is political and not religious but he worries that Mr Netanyahu has turned this into a religious confrontation and has begun to reach out to ultra-nationalist movements outside the region despite their inherent anti-Semitism. He also expressed his concern that Israel is looking to create a zero-sum game in which the only dynamic is winning or losing.

49. Mr Ereikat noted that the problems in Palestinian are serious and the society is complex. Mistakes have been made in the past and politics is sometimes over charged. Many countries are helping the authority with judicial, economic and social reform but being under occupation makes reform particularly challenging. He said that Hamas is a Palestinian political party and Fatah is not seeking simply to exclude them. Palestine will become a state but it will not have a tank or a military plane. Its survival will depend on democratic accountability. The Palestinian people also recognise the stakes in preserving order and unity. Syria and Yemen are reminders of what can transpire if the politics unwind and conflicts on this scale take decades to recover from. There are

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currently 26 political parties in the territories, and Hamas is engaged in the dialogue among them. Fatah wants dialogue and does not want violence. It has communicated this to Hamas, which is part of the Muslim Brotherhood. Fatah has offered to form a national unity government prior to elections this coming May. He said that Fatah does not want to give Hamas a veto over these elections and has invited it to participate in them. If this does not happen, it plays directly into Netanyahu’s game of saying “with whom do I negotiate, the PLO or Hamas?”

50. In the discussion, Mr Ereikat said that he believes his generation acted with great wisdom and courage when it recognised the right of Israel to exist. But Palestine now confronts an Israel that is changing and its leaders seem to be exporting fear and seem to believe that a solution lies in constructing an Apartheid system. But if they are motivated by fear, he suggested, perhaps NATO can have a role in offering reassurance. Creative thinking will be required. They now have 500,000 settlers living in Palestinian lands. Perhaps it will make sense to engage in a land swap although illegal settlers would have to leave. Mr Ereikat suggested that Prime Minister Netanyahu does not believe that Israel can survive without an external threat and has transformed the Palestinian people into that threat. He noted that he had attended Shimon Peres’ funeral and did so out of a sense of ethics and values. At that funeral, Mr Ereikat told Mr Netanyahu that he was “stealing hope from my grandchildren.” Mr Ereikat said that he does not want his grandchildren to become suicide bombers and that creating a two-state solution would ensure that this did not transpire. Many Israelis support this as well but the government seems to be jacking up fear—something that Hamas is also engaged in. This is polarising the situation he added.

51. The Palestinian authority has joined 44 international organisations and hopes to join more. In these bodies, it is working on a range of issues including human rights and war crimes and this has greatly angered Prime Minister Netanyahu, Mr Ereikat said. He appealed to the EU to help the Palestinians construct a viable state and to recognise that state. He also asked for assistance to putting an end to illegal settlements.

52. Palestine will have municipal elections on 13 May and for the new National Council within the next two months. These will be held in the West Bank. The fact the West Bank will go to the polls and not Gaza does not necessarily mark a split. Hamas has simply refused to hold elections but it has agreed to be part of a national unity government. This puts Fatah in a catch-22 situation but the decision has been made to go forward with the elections and to begin to construct the institutions of a viable state. Mr Ereikat also said that he wants to build a partnership with President Trump and hopes that he can help both sides reach a fair agreement. He was not pleased, however, when President Trump seemed to indicate that a one state solution would be possible, arguing that such pronouncement play directly into the hands of extremists.

53. Waleed Assaf provided the delegation a very detailed discussion of the expansion of Israeli settlements within Palestinian territories after the Oslo accords. Many of these settlements, he noted, began as caravan outposts on private Palestinian lands. Building on many of these began in 1997. He noted that Israel has also constructed 93 military bases, 25 industrial areas, 20 service sites for settlers and four tourist sites, two which are on the Red Sea and one in East Jerusalem on territory claimed by Palestine. The Israeli’s have also built a wall to separate the land it de facto controls from the rest of the West Bank. Mr Assaf said that the wall bisects Palestinian towns and separates towns from their agricultural fields. It includes 300 military checkpoints which seriously complicates moving through the region. 45 communities are slated for demolishment, he added and in January 2017, 145 homes were demolished, more than any other single month. The settlers routinely attack Palestinians and they receive both training and ammunition from the Israeli army. Settler groups have also cut down Palestinian trees and prevented Palestinians from working their land. The situation in Hebron has become particularly problematic. A number of Palestinians have been killed in that town in recent months, he said, and moving about that city is very difficult given Israeli controls.

54. A new Israeli law now allows private Palestinian land to be seized and Palestinians only have the right to ask for monetary compensation. The law gives Israelis enormous power to seize

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land for agricultural or industrial use. Mr Assaf said that Palestinians are not allowed to go to Israeli courts to challenge these operations. All of this suggests that a full annexation is underway.

55. The delegation met with Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian legislator, academic and former spokesperson of the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Process. She told the delegation that the options for building a just peace under international law are evaporating. She said that the current government in Israel is the most hard-line in the history of that country and argued that it is bent on destroying the two-state solution. The very foundations for such an agreement, she argued, are being negated through unilateral action on the ground. This includes land theft, resource theft, settlement, the total annexation of Jerusalem and policies that constitute ethnic cleansing. The government is highly ideological, she said, and claims that its right to Palestinian lands is God given. She said that the Palestinians cannot accept this kind of dangerous argument.

56. Ms Ashrawi also said that Israel is imposing its will militarily on a people with no military at their disposition, and this imbalance has allowed the Israeli state to act with impunity. She argued that Israel has been able to move on this front as a result of US and to a lesser extent EU sponsorship. She asked European members, for example, why they imported settlement produced products to Europe when it has recognised that these settlements are illegal under international law. Ms Ashrawi pointed to the boycott of South Africa under Apartheid as the kind of response that the Palestinian side would like to see. She worried that the logic of the settlements has been embraced in the White House and argued that this would make it all the more difficult to achieve peace. The United States has always been both a peace broker and a strategic ally to one of the negotiating partners, and this has been both an important feature of the process and one of its fatal flaws. She was disappointed that John Kerry did not call out Israel for its intransigence until it was clear that he was to be leaving his position. She worried that US officials with responsibility for the region may draw a harder line than Mr Netanyahu. Several newly named Administration officials have been closely involved in supporting the settlement movement and have openly attacked Jewish groups in the United States supporting the peace process.

57. She also mentioned that the Palestinian authority is seeking to bring a case to the International Criminal Court. This has been a highly controversial decision and the Palestinian authority has been threatened for doing so, she said. The United States has said that support for the Palestinian authority is at stake if it seeks to accede to conventions or to join international organisations. Ashrawi argued that this was the only means the authority has at hand to protect the vulnerable. She reiterated a deep concern that the abandonment of the two-state solution will not result in a democratic future for the Palestinian people and that this will mean decades of strive to come.

58. Ms Ashrawi argued that some creative thinking is needed to revive the peace process. The bilateral negotiating model has failed, Ashrawi stated, but perhaps a kind of P5 + 1 model which engages other Arab countries might help. She argued that defending Palestinian rights and international law must be central to these talks which ultimately have to be a means to an end. She also noted that West Jerusalem should belong to Israel, East Jerusalem to the Palestinians while the city as a whole should remain open and not divided by walls and checkpoints. She mentioned that her daughters are currently not allowed to travel to Jerusalem and she characterised such restrictions as cruel.

59. Ms Ashrawi was asked about the situation in Gaza and responded that internal affairs among Palestinians poses a very difficult challenge. The rift is territorial, ideological and political. Vested interests are involved and Hamas is being supported by outside actors including the Muslim brotherhood. She stressed that it is essential to follow a path of non-violence because the Palestinians are in no position to prevail in a violent conflict. They must operate from a foundation of international law and a moral position. The problem is that Hamas is now providing an excuse for Israeli intransigence and repression, she argued, and there are even indications that it cooperates with Israeli authorities as each serves the other’s aims and ambitions.

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60. Ms Ashrawi noted that the situation in Gaza is very difficult. Gaza is akin to a large prison. The poverty rate is 80% while unemployment hovers near 50%. The rift between the PLO and Hamas only weakens the Palestinian cause, she argued, and some kind of reunification will be essential. Yet Hamas is part of the Palestinian landscape as are the millions of Palestinians who now live in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Europe. She expressed concerns that Hamas has been encouraged to represent this diaspora and is working to make inroads among these people beyond the borders of Palestine. Ms Ashwari also said that new elections are essential. The Palestinian Executive Commission has become a kind of Jurassic Park and an infusion of young people and women is essential to revitalise it. She said that the Palestinian authority needs to start acting like a sovereign state and it needs an administrative overhaul to make this happen.

61. In the final meeting of the mission, the delegation met with Mohammad Shtayyeh, Minister, Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR) who spoke on economic development challenges and opportunities. He suggested that the interim agreement has strongly conditioned the structure of the Palestinian economy. He also noted that its economy is very small and utterly dependent on Israel, a situation that he characterised as a form of colonial dependence. He used the conflict over water access to illustrate his point. He said that the situation has gotten so bad for in the Jordan valley that many inhabitants now need to move to the uplands in summer to ensure access to water.

62. He also noted that the trade relationship is essentially one way, with Israel exporting roughly $5.1 billion to the territories and Palestine exporting $700-800 million to Israel. The colonial relationship is partly to blame. He cited an example of Israel selling roughly two million tons of cement to Palestine each year while blocking permits for the development of a Palestinian cement factory. Israel also collects import duties on goods that are ultimately sold in Palestinian markets. Moreover, the territories do not have a currency so they lose seigniorage privileges that sovereign states normally enjoy. He argued that these limitations feed into budgetary problems confronted by the Palestinian authority. Israel also controls all international phone calls and 3G and 4G are still prohibited. This, Mr Shtayyeh suggested, is impeding business development in Palestinian lands. He noted that transportation costs in the West Bank were now prohibitive due the check points. It can take days for trucks to move through the Palestinian territories. He also said that there is great dynamic potential in Palestinian society and some do manage to flourish despite myriad restrictions.

63. The Minister argued that the international community should consider a policy of sanctions to register their opposition to the current situation. He noted that Israel has destroyed a number of EU funded infrastructure projects and that this should be unacceptable to European governments as should the fact that some European passport holders are living in illegal settlements in the West Bank.

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