What is the Palestinian view of the Israeli occupation ?
I live under Israel’s occupation and I believe I’m qualified to answer this question and display how we Palestinians try to survive under it.
On June 5, 1967, Israel invaded and occupied Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem during a war it initiated with Arab countries who were trying to dislodge it from the Palestinian land it occupied during the Nakba in 1948.
In the 76 years since the Nakba, Israel’s control over us affected every aspect of life, from services we can access and where we can travel, to what resources we can use and where on our own land we can build homes.
I will take the reader through a journey of some of the daily struggles we Palestinians face under Israeli occupation:
- Control of land and natural resources:
There is a physical separation between Palestinians living in Gaza and those in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israel essentially bars any movement between these areas.
In 1995, the occupied West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C as part of the Oslo Accords.
Area C - 60 percent of the West Bank and home to about 300,000 Palestinians - was supposed to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority.
But Israel still controls it completely and has built more than 290 illegal Jewish settlements and outposts on it, where some 700,000 settlers now live.
Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
- Control of housing:
What would you do if you knew you needed a permit to build a home, but it is nearly impossible to get one because you are Palestinian?
Many of us Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are forced to build homes without permits because Israel refuses to grant us permits.
Israeli authorities typically require us to pay for the bulldozing of our own homes, leaving us concerned that we may not be able to afford the demolition.
- Control of human resources:
Every morning, before dawn, tens of thousands of Palestinian workers squeeze into cage-like lanes to wait to pass Israeli military checkpoints on their way to work.
Israel, with its heavy restrictions on our movement and resources, has driven our unemployment rates to the third highest in the world.
Some Palestinian labourers have been crushed to death due to extreme confinement in overcrowded checkpoints.
Making matters worse, as of January 2024, about 507,000 jobs have been lost across Palestine due to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
The ILO predicts that if the war on Gaza continues, unemployment in Palestine will rise above 45 percent compared with 25 percent for the same period last year.
Unemployment rates across Palestine, Q2 2023 vs Q2 2024 (projected) [International Labour Organization].
- Control of financial resources:
Israel has significant influence over our financial resources through mechanisms like the taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has overseen parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the mid-1990s.
Israel collects about $188m a month in taxes on behalf of the PA - 64 percent of the PA’s total revenue.
Israel has regularly suspended these payments, hampering the PA’s ability to pay salaries to its estimated 150,000 employees working in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
The Palestinian economy operates on the Israeli shekel, and its financial interactions with the rest of the world must go through the Israeli banking system.
- Control of trade:
Since 1967, when Israel occupied all of historic Palestine and expelled over 350,000 Palestinians from their homes, our trade relations with the Arab world have been all but cut off.
Israel controls the movement of goods that we can import and export.
In 2001, Israeli forces destroyed Yasser Arafat International Airport in Rafah, southern Gaza, the territory’s only Palestinian-operated airport.
The remains of the Yasser Arafat International Airport that was meant to facilitate both international trade and tourism, shown on March 12, 2018.
Palestine has a high trade deficit because of Israeli restrictions on our borders and resources. Our dependency on the Israeli economy means some 80 percent of our exports go to Israel.
Palestine’s main exports partners, 2022 [oec.world].
- Control of technology:
Palestine is digitally occupied too.
Israel restricts imports of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment, claiming it is “dual use”, or has both civilian and military applications.
While Israel is rolling out high-speed 5G mobile internet, we are only allowed to use 3G in the occupied West Bank (since 2018) and 2G in Gaza.
These restrictions stifle our ICT sector, which relies mostly on Israeli software and infrastructure.
Israeli networks can also monitor and censor online Palestinian content.
- Control of infrastructure:
Israel controls most water resources in the region, including the occupied West Bank's main underground aquifers.
Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza often face restrictions on access and usage.
The World Health Organization recommends a minimum safe water consumption of 100 litres per capita per day.
In 2023, Israelis on average consumed 247 litres a day, while Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza got 82 litres.
Average daily water consumption per person in 2023 [WHO].
- Control of cultural heritage:
Since October 7, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has destroyed more than 200 cultural heritage sites, including museums, libraries, churches and mosques.
Gaza City's Great Omari Mosque, Gaza's oldest mosque, was heavily damaged by Israeli bombardment on January 5, 2024.
Israel has also destroyed more than 390 educational institutions, including every university in Gaza.
On January 17, the Israeli military used explosives to destroy Israa University in Gaza City, and filmed it for fun.
Israa University, located in the south of Gaza City, was demolished by Israeli forces, as is evident from a video released by Israeli media on January 17, 2024.
These are just some of the ways our daily lives in Palestine are restricted under Israeli occupation.
Israel’s control and domination violate international laws and deprive us of our right to self-determination. Israel has also diminished our economy, making it dependent on it, according to a report by the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
Long story short, not only does Israel control and occupy our lands, it also controls every aspect of our lives. We’re traumatized by Israel’s continued system of oppression and apartheid that meant that the Nakba has never really ended.
I hope you found my answer helpful. For further information on my experience living under Israel’s apartheid and occupation, check my other answers and posts below: