Sections:
Freedom of Information disclosure - F2005/69
Date of release 23 March 2005
DFID spending on capital projects in the Israeli occupied territories in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and also where relevant, in Jerusalem.
DFID's development programmes to the Palestinians since the Oslo Accord have been very largely technical assistance and we have not provided directly substantial capital infrastructure projects. Occasionally we have helped refurbish the odd building as part of a wider technical assistance programme, but we are not aware of any subsequent damage on these few occasions.
The one exception, albeit a fairly modest one, has been a water access and storage programme in the southern West Bank. This has provided some basic infrastructure needs to particularly isolated and marginalised rural communities. The total construction budget for this recently completed project was $4.32m. Of this nearly $3.8m was allocated to either the construction of water and sanitation facilities or village level infrastructure.
These communities are located within Area C (full Israeli control). In nine of the villages supported by the project, Israeli demolition of infrastructure has already taken place affecting up to 34 cisterns and 27 latrines. At least a further 43 cisterns and 48 latrines have been warned or received demolition orders. We do not hold any data regarding the cost of this demolished infrastructure.
The European Commission has however provided
substantial funding for infrastructure projects in the Palestinian Territory.
The UK contributes about 17% of total EC expenditure on development for
Palestinians. We do not hold data on the total cost of EC infrastructure
projects since Oslo, but the attached table
shows in some detail those which
have been damaged as a result of Israeli military action since the start of the
second intifada.
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