Q: A: Deportations were stopped during the late 1970s but restarted by Defense Minister Rabin in 1985, and a Knesset member said that in a recent debate in the Knesset Rabin declared himself proud that he had deported more Palestinians in three years than the Likud did in seven years. Do you take up statements like that with the Defense After the recent deportations, do you think that Is it United States policy to oppose deportations? We have not seen Rabin's statement. However, we have expressed to the GOI, on numerous occasions our strong opposition to deportations as counterproductive and inconsistent with the Fourth Geneva Convention. We will continue to make our views known. A: Q: The Landau Report was issued late last year and it was critical of many tactics used by the Israelis against Palestinians. You testified in December that, as a result of the report, to your knowledge there was no change in Israeli practices, no specific reforms implemented and no mechanism yet set up to re-hear cases of security prisoners who claim they were convicted on the basis of perjury by Israeli security personnel, despite a specific recommendation that such a mechanism be set up. --Is this still the case? --Why, despite the Landau Commission report, has little happened? --What are we saying to the Israelis about this matter? We asked the GOI on several occasions to provide summaries of actions taken in conjunction with the findings of the Landau Commission report. We have recently renewed our request and are still waiting to hear from the GOI. Q: A: The Subcommittee has received several dozen affidavits from lawyers and children concerning beatings. The affidavits will be shared with the Human Rights Subcommittee and also provided to the State Department. --The question is: What are you going to do about this problem of beatings of children and teenagers? --Do you see any change or improvement on this problem We repeatedly have made clear to GOI officials in Israel . harsh security practices. We believe these incidents have IDF Chief of Staff Shomron is applied, and that any soldier who violates it will be punished. Q. We hear some of the following things about the economic scene and I would like your comments. Is it accurate that: - the West Bank and Gaza saw economic progress during - what economic progress that occurred was based not on indigenous economic activity but was based on externally-generated money, remittances from Palestinians working in the Persian Gulf and from Palestinians working in Israel; - in 1986 the West Bank and Gaza were the second largest importers of Israeli goods after the United States, but West Bank and Gazan goods that compete with Israeli goods cannot be sold in Israel; - in the last few years there has been a net - since 1977 the Israelis have sought to subordinate and integrate the West Bank and Gazan economies into Israel; - Israeli land and water policies have exacerbated problems, as Israeli settlers have had far more access to resources on a per capital basis than have Palestinians. How serious are these issues in your view? How important is it to address these problems in autonomy talks? Is it still accurate that Palestinian businessmen in the Why can't the Israelis be persuaded to change these regulatory practices? - 2 A. Despite such useful efforts as the West Bank Data Project, there are no alternative independent sources of data by which we can authoritatively verify or refute some of your observations. However, it is clear the territories did experience economic growth during the seventies. Since the slowdown in the Gulf, remittances have declined causing economic growth in the territories also to fall. Israeli Bureau of Statistics data indicates that there was again strong growth in the territories in 1986. More recent statistics are not available. In 1986, according to the Israeli Bureau of Statistics, the West Bank and Gaza imported $798 million of goods from Israel, ranking third behind the United States and the European Economic Community. The territories exported $275 million in goods to Israel in 1986, mainly industrial products. With few exceptions, agricultural products are not permitted to enter Israeli markets or their entry is severely limited to protect Israeli producers from Palestinian competition. There are also regulatory barriers that impede the access of other Palestinian goods to Israeli markets. |