UN accused Israel of choking off development in the West Bank in a report on Thursday, as only a small amount of Bethlehem land is available for the Palestinian population.

Just 13 percent of land out of 660 square kilometers is used by Palestinians, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its Special Focus May report, and much of that land is fragmented.

"Bethlehem's potential for residential and industrial expansion and development has been reduced as well as its access to natural resources," said the report. "The traditional mainstays of the Bethlehem governorate economy, such as work in Israel, tourism, agriculture, herding and the private sector have been undermined."

The report attributes Bethlehem's restricted development to the Barrier, military land closures, and settlement construction.

When completed, the Barrier route will cut off the most fertile cultivated land in the governorate as well as 21,000 Palestinians residing in villages west of the planned route from the urban center, said the report.

In addition, the Israeli government continues to close off large swaths of land for military purposes. In January 2009, the Israeli authorities declared the area between the Barrier and the Green Line in Hebron and parts of the Salfit, Ramallah, Jerusalem and northern Bethlehem governorates a closed military area, or a "seam zone."

"'Seam zone' residents are physically separated from the rest of the West Bank and from health, education and commercial services which are generally located to the east of the Barrier," the report said. "Children, patients and workers have to pass through gates to reach schools, medical facilities and workplaces and to maintain family and social relations."

General closures on the West Bank have created an environment whereby permits are only valid for a short amount of time and restrict vehicles. The report noted that since the beginning of the second intifada in 2000, the permits application process has become even stricter.

Meanwhile, the report recommended that the Israeli government halt construction of the Barrier, open closed military areas and nature reserves, and freezes settlement construction.

There are approximately 175,000 Palestinians living in the Bethlehem governorate, said the report, adding that since 1967, some 86,000 Israelis have been settled in the Bethlehem governorate and they live in 19 settlements and 16 settlement outposts.

(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2009)