Deepest Red
01-20-2006, 02:42 AM
Prisoners in Their Own Land
More than 800,000 Palestinians Sealed Off in Northern
West Bank By AMIRA HASS
For a month now, since the second week of December 2005, the Israel Defense Forces
has severed the northern part of the West Bank from other parts, and prohibited
residents from traveling toward Ramallah and points southward.
The ban applies to some 800,000 people, residents of the Tul Karm, Nablus and
Jenin provinces. Until January 2, the ban applied just to residents of Jenin and
Tul Karm. Since then it has been extended to Nablus area residents.
The IDF did not issue an order on the new arrangements, which people only found
out about at the permanent and so-called flying checkpoints that have prevented
them over the past four weeks from traveling southward from the Za'atara junction
(the Tapuah checkpoint). They were not informed how long the travel ban would be
in effect.
The IDF has also cut off direct traffic links within ! the northern West Bank. The
main artery--Road 60, running from the Shavei Shomron settlement to the road
leading to the settlements Mevo Dotan and Homesh, has been closed to all
Palestinian traffic since mid-August by means of three steel gates. Military
sources have told international organizations that this road will be closed to
Palestinian traffic until the construction of an additional security fence around
Shavei Shomron is completed.
At various hours, there is also an age restriction on leaving through various
checkpoints. The restrictions affect people between the ages of 16 and 30.
The IDF also forbids Tul Karm residents from entering Nablus through the
checkpoint at the western entrance, Beit Iba. Entry is permitted only from the
northeast (via Tubas and Al-Badhan), which entails a detour of dozens of
kilometers on long side roads.
The IDF Spokesman's Office told Haaretz, "In the wake of many intelligence
warnings and attempts by terror orga! nizations in northern Samaria to launch
terror attacks against the Isr aeli home front, a few barricades were erected to
prevent vehicular traffic by the residents of Jenin, Tul Karm and Nablus south of
the Nablus-Tul Karm line. The decision to prevent passage was based on a periodic
evaluation of the situation. Humanitarian cases are permitted to pass at any
time."
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) stated in a letter last week to
GOC Central Command, Major General Yair Naveh, that there is concern that the
travel ban was imposed as a punitive measure against the civilian population and
is "therefore improper by dint of being a collective punishment strictly
prohibited under international humanitarian law."
The letter by ACRI attorney Limor Yehuda said that these "comprehensive travel
bans" create "a disconnect between parts of the West Bank and populations and
communities that are interconnected in all aspects of life, and brings in its wake
a mortal blow to the ability of the entire population to maintain economi! c,
social and cultural ties."
The IDF calls this prevention of movement from the northern West Bank to other
areas "differentiation." It was implemented several times last year, for varying
durations. Sometimes the separation is in both directions.
The "differentiation" can be felt in the small number of Palestinian vehicles on
the roads, as well as in the very lengthy wait cars and people have to endure in
exiting the Hawara checkpoint, south of Nablus, and at the flash checkpoints set
up at exits from side roads used by Palestinians. However, according to activists
from MachsomWatch, the human rights organization that is documenting the policy of
restricting Palestinian freedom of movement, the "differentiation" is lasting
longer this time and is being enforced more strictly.
At the Za'atara (Tapuah) checkpoint--which has been upgraded over the past two
months into a giant "terminal" through which all Palestinian traffic from the
northern and wester! n West Bank is channeled--passage is being denied to
Palestinians who have already passed through the screenings at all the preceding
checkpoints, on foot or by car, and whose identity cards list them as residents of
the northern West Bank. The villages along the road from Ariel to Tapuah are
further blocked by fences, which prevent leaving through the orchards.
MachsomWatch activists have documented numerous occasions on which students and
other residents from the Tul Karm and Jenin regions were either prevented from
entering Nablus or else were warned that once they entered, they would not be
allowed to leave.
Amira Hass writes for Ha'aretz. She is the author of Drinking the Sea at Gaza.
More than 800,000 Palestinians Sealed Off in Northern
West Bank By AMIRA HASS
For a month now, since the second week of December 2005, the Israel Defense Forces
has severed the northern part of the West Bank from other parts, and prohibited
residents from traveling toward Ramallah and points southward.
The ban applies to some 800,000 people, residents of the Tul Karm, Nablus and
Jenin provinces. Until January 2, the ban applied just to residents of Jenin and
Tul Karm. Since then it has been extended to Nablus area residents.
The IDF did not issue an order on the new arrangements, which people only found
out about at the permanent and so-called flying checkpoints that have prevented
them over the past four weeks from traveling southward from the Za'atara junction
(the Tapuah checkpoint). They were not informed how long the travel ban would be
in effect.
The IDF has also cut off direct traffic links within ! the northern West Bank. The
main artery--Road 60, running from the Shavei Shomron settlement to the road
leading to the settlements Mevo Dotan and Homesh, has been closed to all
Palestinian traffic since mid-August by means of three steel gates. Military
sources have told international organizations that this road will be closed to
Palestinian traffic until the construction of an additional security fence around
Shavei Shomron is completed.
At various hours, there is also an age restriction on leaving through various
checkpoints. The restrictions affect people between the ages of 16 and 30.
The IDF also forbids Tul Karm residents from entering Nablus through the
checkpoint at the western entrance, Beit Iba. Entry is permitted only from the
northeast (via Tubas and Al-Badhan), which entails a detour of dozens of
kilometers on long side roads.
The IDF Spokesman's Office told Haaretz, "In the wake of many intelligence
warnings and attempts by terror orga! nizations in northern Samaria to launch
terror attacks against the Isr aeli home front, a few barricades were erected to
prevent vehicular traffic by the residents of Jenin, Tul Karm and Nablus south of
the Nablus-Tul Karm line. The decision to prevent passage was based on a periodic
evaluation of the situation. Humanitarian cases are permitted to pass at any
time."
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) stated in a letter last week to
GOC Central Command, Major General Yair Naveh, that there is concern that the
travel ban was imposed as a punitive measure against the civilian population and
is "therefore improper by dint of being a collective punishment strictly
prohibited under international humanitarian law."
The letter by ACRI attorney Limor Yehuda said that these "comprehensive travel
bans" create "a disconnect between parts of the West Bank and populations and
communities that are interconnected in all aspects of life, and brings in its wake
a mortal blow to the ability of the entire population to maintain economi! c,
social and cultural ties."
The IDF calls this prevention of movement from the northern West Bank to other
areas "differentiation." It was implemented several times last year, for varying
durations. Sometimes the separation is in both directions.
The "differentiation" can be felt in the small number of Palestinian vehicles on
the roads, as well as in the very lengthy wait cars and people have to endure in
exiting the Hawara checkpoint, south of Nablus, and at the flash checkpoints set
up at exits from side roads used by Palestinians. However, according to activists
from MachsomWatch, the human rights organization that is documenting the policy of
restricting Palestinian freedom of movement, the "differentiation" is lasting
longer this time and is being enforced more strictly.
At the Za'atara (Tapuah) checkpoint--which has been upgraded over the past two
months into a giant "terminal" through which all Palestinian traffic from the
northern and wester! n West Bank is channeled--passage is being denied to
Palestinians who have already passed through the screenings at all the preceding
checkpoints, on foot or by car, and whose identity cards list them as residents of
the northern West Bank. The villages along the road from Ariel to Tapuah are
further blocked by fences, which prevent leaving through the orchards.
MachsomWatch activists have documented numerous occasions on which students and
other residents from the Tul Karm and Jenin regions were either prevented from
entering Nablus or else were warned that once they entered, they would not be
allowed to leave.
Amira Hass writes for Ha'aretz. She is the author of Drinking the Sea at Gaza.