Executive summary
Contrary to the illusion held by many that Israel’s presence in the Gaza Strip ended with the implementation of the Disengagement Plan in 2005, to this day Israel continues to exercise control over nearly every aspect of life in Gaza, including through its control over movement and access. Importantly, it continues to enforce restrictions on access to areas deep inside the Strip and in Gaza’s territorial waters, commonly referred to as the “Access Restricted Areas” (ARAs). On land, Israel calls the area to which it controls entrance the “buffer zone.” The area runs along the entire length of the fence separating Gaza from Israel. The “fishing zone” it permits at sea is just a fraction of Gaza’s actual territorial waters. In both of these areas, Israel employs violent enforcement measures against what it perceives as breaches of its directives, including the use of live fire, which results in the death and injury of Palestinian residents of Gaza.
Beyond the threat to life, Israel’s control over Gaza’s land and sea areas has implications for the economy of the Strip and livelihoods dependent on safe and reliable access to these spaces. The lands closest to the fence separating Gaza from Israel are among the most arable and suitable for farming in the Strip. In Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, every stretch of farmland is critical. Fishing has historically been one of the most important sectors for the coastal community of the Strip and once supported tens of thousands of people. The restrictions enforced by Israel in these areas are particularly harmful to women working in fishing, farming and herding. Women, who were highly represented in trades related to farming and herding have been almost entirely pushed out of the sector. Before Israel tightened the closure on Gaza in 2007, 36 percent of the people working in farming and fishing were women. Today, that number has plummeted to only four percent.
Further reading Blurring boundaries: Lack of transparency and ambiguous rules of engagement harm civilians in Gaza's border area Scale of Control – Does Israel Control Gaza?
Between 2010 and 2017, that is, before the recent wave of demonstrations began on March 30, 2018, there were a total of 1,300 incidents of live-fire by Israeli security forces on farmers, herders, scrap collectors, demonstrators and other Gaza residents near the fence separating Gaza and Israel; at least 161 Palestinians were killed and more than 3,000 injured. The lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people are directly impacted by restrictions on movement imposed by Israel near the fence on a regular basis, not just during demonstrations.
Following inquiries and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests filed by Gisha over the years, the Israeli army eventually provided information about the area of land where it enforces restrictions on movement of farmers and other residents of Gaza. However, interviews conducted by Gisha for this report indicate that farmers, herders and others who require access to lands in the vicinity of the border fence remain uncertain about the exact location of the area that is off-limits.
Since 2014, Israel has also conducted aerial herbicide spraying along the fence with Gaza, causing extensive damage to crops and tremendous financial losses for farmers. Israel hires private planes to spray chemical herbicidal agents, which are then carried by wind into the Strip, damaging crops hundreds of meters from the fence inside Gaza. The presence of security forces employed by the de facto Hamas authorities near the fence also causes civilians to fear accessing lands in the area.
At sea, buoys demarcate the fishing zone, however, these move with the currents, making it almost impossible for fishermen to know if they have exceeded the limit. In addition, many incidents of live-fire in areas clearly within the fishing zone have been reported and Israel shrinks and expands the zone regularly, often as a punitive measure, causing uncertainty and insecurity. From 2010 to 2017, there were nearly 1,000 incidents of live-fire reported at sea, 107 injuries, five deaths, and 250 instances of confiscation of boats and other equipment.
Following the devastating military operation, Protective Edge, in 2014, Israel made certain changes to policy related to movement of people and goods, and Israeli security officials and others publicly acknowledged the importance of enabling Gaza’s reconstruction and promoting economic development there. The rhetoric around reconstruction is also apparent in how the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the main body in the Israeli military charged with overseeing civilian policy, framed its decision to periodically expand Gaza’s fishing zone from six to nine nautical miles off the coast of Gaza. Nevertheless, the very demarcation of Gaza’s fishing zone to such a small area and the Israeli navy’s aggressive enforcement of the maritime closure on Gaza have made fishing a dangerous profession. Egypt too polices restrictions on the southern edge of Gaza’s territorial waters in a distinctly aggressive manner.
Israel often portrays the movement restrictions it unilaterally enforces inside the Strip as based on Israel’s security needs alone. While there are periods of active hostilities, at times indiscriminate fire from Gaza toward populated areas inside Israel and presence of armed Palestinians near the fence, these cannot serve as justification for the Israeli army’s sweeping and disproportionate harm to civilians in the Strip.
Moreover, very often the interests at play are not distinctly security related, but rather punitive and politically motivated. For example, although Israel’s restrictions on Gaza’s sea space predate the tightening of the closure in 2007 and the disengagement in 2005, they have been enforced as part of an official policy of economic warfare on the Strip ever since Hamas took control of Gaza. Israel sometimes expands the fishing zone as a temporary “gesture,” as it calls it, and, at other times, “punishes” Gaza residents by restricting it. This practice illustrates how Israel routinely imposes and enforces sweeping, arbitrary restrictions for political interests that have little to do with security.
This report is being released five years after Gisha published a position paper entitled Blurring Boundaries, in which we cautioned against the rules of engagement employed by Israel in the border area, pointing to the disturbing lack of clarity surrounding its open-fire policy. Unfortunately, time has proven beyond a doubt that enforcement of the ARAs exacts a heavy price from Gaza residents and has failed to achieve its ostensible political or security goals. Nonetheless, Israel continues to enforce restrictions, resulting in the death and injury of many Palestinians. Apart from the inexcusable cost to life and limb, these restrictions on movement also sow fear, uncertainty and severely hinder economic activity.
This report aims to provide a current account of the impact of Israel’s control over the ARAs it enforces inside Gaza on land and at sea, particularly as concerns the economic implications of the policy. We conclude by calling on Israel to refrain from its destructive and disproportionate actions which violate the fundamental human rights of Palestinians, including the right to life and the right to livelihood.