Homelessness in Israel/Palestine

The land of Israel/Palestine is usually thought of in the context of the decades-long occupation of the Palestinians by Israel and the various hostilities that have erupted between its two peoples in recent years. However, just like other countries, the so-called Holy Land also suffers from more mundane problems, and, yes, these include poverty and homelessness. The circumstances that usually lead to homelessness elsewhere are compounded by the political turmoil in the country. Homelessness affects the Jewish and Palestinian populations alike; what differs is the scale to which it affects them, and the causes. The land that is known as Historic Palestine is divided into three main areas: Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

Today, most Palestinians live in the West Bank and Gaza, and about one million live inside Israel proper as "Arab" citizens of Israel. Similarly, most Israelis live in Israel, and a smaller number (550,000) live inside illegal settlements within the West Bank. The two peoples are therefore largely mixed across the entirety of the land. Despite this, and despite the fact that the Israeli state has ultimate authority over both groups of people, Israelis and Palestinians live under two systems of law.  That is precisely why there are vast differences in the levels of poverty experienced by the two societies. The number of Israeli citizens that are homeless is 2,300, according to a 2016 study by Israel's Welfare Ministry. Half of these rough sleepers hail from the former Soviet Union. They are part of an influx of Russian Jews who emigrated to Israel in the 1980s and 1990s. Initially Russian Jews immigrated because Israel encouraged them to do so in order to bolster the state's Jewish character. Later they came for economic reasons and to flee economic uncertainty in 1990s Russia. Although initially given state aid to cope with the expenses of assimilating to their new country, their new immigrant status meant that they were at a higher risk of falling on hard times once the global economic recession of 2008 impacted the region.  This may be why today Russian-Israelis represent a high proportion of Israel's homeless relative to their ratio in the population. The other half of the approximately 2300 Israelis who sleep rough are variously Israel-born Jews, Palestinian citizens of Israel and Ethiopian-born Israelis. The most common reasons for why these people ended up on the streets are substance addiction, economic problems, and mental or physical illness. Israel's income inequality and poverty rates are among the highest of OECD countries, but the reasons its citizens have become vulnerable to homelessness are common to other OECD countries.  

What is less common is the path that leads Palestinians into homelessness. In their case the picture is more complex. Outright poverty is a leading factor and its causes can be traced to the ongoing military occupation of Palestinian areas and the physical blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza. Palestinians who do not hold Israeli citizenship - that is, the majority - are not only deprived of the Israeli state welfare programs that Israeli citizens have access to, but are also deprived of the freedom of movement necessary to find jobs that can pay a living wage. A comparison of the average annual income of West Bank Palestinians ($4300) and that of Israeli citizens ($34,800) reveals the very different lots of each group. Restrictions on the movement of people and goods, and the separation of the Palestinian economy from international markets (Israel controls all Palestinian borders) are largely responsible for the West Bank's low GDP. Other reasons for the generalized impoverishment of the population is the confiscation by the Israeli state - or in some case by settlers - of Palestinian land, olive groves, natural resources and the destruction of productive assets, including homes that Israel demolishes in its ongoing effort to rid certain areas of their Palestinian populations. In 2016 alone, Israeli authorities demolished 88 residential buildings and 48 other structures in Jerusalem. Elsewhere in the West Bank it demolished 274 residential buildings and 372 non-residential buildings. Those lucky enough to have family able to take them in find some shelter, though others are less fortunate. In Gaza, the situation is even worse. Since the last round of hostilities between Israel and militant groups in the summer of 2014, which saw Israeli airstrikes destroy the homes of 100,000 Palestinians, nearly every family in Gaza is dependent on international aid for survival. Many thousands of families live in shacks or in the ruins of their bombed homes, without electricity or running water. Despite this grim situation, there are reasons to be optimistic. A 2016 UN report found that if the obstacles of occupation were removed, the GDP of the Palestinian Territories would double almost immediately, significantly reducing unemployment and poverty. The report showed that if the political will is found to end the current two-tier system under which Israelis and Palestinians live, a brighter future is within grasp. This could come in the form of a two-state solution, whereby the Palestinians are finally granted autonomy over their economy and borders, or it could come in the form of a single democratic state in which all those who live within Israel/Palestine are given equal voting rights under a single government. Such a "one state" solution to the conflict has been gaining more traction in recent years, however idealistic it may at first appear.  If it is achieved it would carry the advantage of freer movement of goods and people since fewer borders would be needed, and this in turn would strengthen the economy of the entire country. US aid to Israel, which currently stands at $3 billion a year, would no longer be used for military expenditure and instead diverted to creating a better safety net for all citizens living in a new, inclusive and truly democratic country. Photo caption: Scene of a market in Gaza City, Gaza, January 2013. About the author: Dr. Claudia Saba is a lecturer in International Relations in Barcelona's Blanquerna School of International Relations. Note from #HomelessEntrepreneur. If you'd like to make a donation to help us improve our blog and build our network of journalists who contribute by writing about issues related to homelessness around the world to help speed up the process of eliminating homeless, please do so via #HomelessEntrepreneur's bank account, IBAN No ES78 0081-1699-53-0001058408 Swift: BSABESBB, and write #HomelessBlog as the transfer concept. Thanks!

"Xavi's Shelter"

The soul of Xavi is nomadic and always goes with everything that fit in the suitcase from here to there. Normally resort to cashiers, like this one; a paradox that the drama is dominated by the photo of a smiling guy who tries to attract the potential client It is the great street incoherence. An entity with pecuniary souls serves as shelter for hundreds of people like you. You say that the bad thing is the lights, which remain fluorescent all night, intense, and you cover your eyes with a sock to imagine the night. Then there are the lawful and legitimate entries and exits of the users, but you complain about those who wake you up on purpose, insult you, try to humiliate you, sometimes they even throw you cents with contempt.

You still recurrently account that infamous worker who kicked you to wake up and leave. You changed cashier, and you also tell me stories of consideration of other workers of these crematísticas entities, but you explain that all appear phagocytized by the great virtue of these times, the monetary gain. You settle for a shelter, you aspire to a stable roof, the fall has been hard, getting up is not easy. Keep fighting, you're a fighter, and that's where we are together. This article has been written by  Daniel Marin , an entrepreneur without a roof and his talent is photo-journalism. Note from the Entrepreneurs Without Roof Association .You can make a donation to help you through the bank account of the Entrepreneurs Without Roof Association:  IBAN No ES78 0081-1699-53-0001058408

'Little warriors' series Ocula

Between A and B, C. Between this and that, that one. Between the one and the other, the one beyond.

The social activist Andrew Oliver Funk (Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, 1981), like the Gorgonite Ocula, has spent half his life deciding between two options, and in all of them he has chosen the least bad choice. Vertical, existentialist ("I like to help others"), is the antithesis of the sculptor Jorge Oteiza ("the man transformed by art"), occupying spaces for the homeless, as if the tellers of the banks were spiritual metaphysical boxes. Andrew has founded the non-profit organization of Barcelona #HomelessEntrepreneur.

He grew up in the lands of the Sioux. Pitcher with iron arm. Baseball cards thief  (shortstop  Dickie Thon, 1992) and loose poems that cut off his breath, as indolent soil clauses ("hold infinity in the palm of the hand", William Blake).

When he was 12 years old, he had to choose between father and mother, at the request of the matrimonial lawyer who processed the separation of the parents: "Who do you want more?", He asked him to answer. His father was drilling the Texas soil with the rod bombs, looking for the black gold to pay the bills. The boy stayed with the mother, not knowing that the two weighed the same in the balance of his heart.

At the age of 18, he had to choose between a career in economics ("I took refuge in mathematics, I did not have to talk") and an English Literature course, both at the Arizona State University. He chose literature, the only articulated vehicle that transported him farther, away from judgments and gangs and emptiness.

His favorite book is Private M emories and Confessions of a Justified Sinner,  by James Hogg ("I am sure that by recording the horrible events that continue ..."). But he stopped reading books and began to read people, as a result of the learning acquired in the course of the subject "theory of knowledge".

At 19 he chose between two foreign languages, compulsory subjects: French or Spanish. He was inclined to the word Cervantes, who hugged him to give him the songs (Sting), insults or half-insults ("for the balls") and nap ("the good here").

With 22 years he went to Spain to change the world; it did not manage to change the world, but it helped Spain to become clever; Soon she would enter the economic and social crisis that is still transforming her into a long-tailed dragon.

He traveled the distances between malodorous hostels, tarnished rooms and expensive and unhygienic rents. He traveled each time with less budget, and of the 43 countries he has visited there is one he always comes back to: Barcelona, onceived as a country, as his home, as His Home in capital letters: "All the people I've met are interested in the same thing : eat, drink and fuck, basic things. I have gone to poor places and rich places, and in all of them people are very similar. " In Barcelona all these people come together.

Established in the Mediterranean city, he founded the English Metas English academy. I wanted to grow and enjoy: "I knew how to grow but not manage".

Closed ("English Goals website is having a make-up!"). He became disoriented. He got into a vortex without sense, spiral of self-destruction, battles with himself, unfortunate loneliness, inconsolable. "I was like this staying on the street [takes a pinch of air with my fingers]. I went from couch to couch, burning relationships, "she says honestly.

He visited the shelters of Cáritas Diocesana de Catalunya, which he saw as insufficient.

To survive and not hit bottom ("when you hit the bottom, you make your home base, so it's not an option to go up"), created the organization #HomelessEntrepreneur.

"The homeless people have lost everything, everything, everything: the links, the networks, the friendships ... They do not know how to carry out anything. Even if they get angry they do not know how to channel it ... For me they are not invisible. "

Reporter. -What would you have done if you had stayed in the street?

Andrew.-What I'm doing now.

R. - What are you doing?

A. -Create community.

Between returning to his previous position and continuing with the project to eradicate homelessness, the North American Barcelona Andrew Funk, the Gorganita Ocula, chose again: he chose the latter. "I want the model that I am implementing in Barcelona to be exported to all the cities in the world."

The second is the first.