QALQILIA, Monday, October 21, 2019 (WAFA) – Israeli forces closed this evening the northern and western checkpoints to the town of Azzoun, east of Qalqilia, in the occupied West Bank, said local sources.

Sources told WAFA Israeli forces closed the main northern entrance with a metal gate and place a flying checkpoint at the western entrance to the town, causing a severe traffic jam.

According to Israeli information center for human rights center, B’Tselem, Restricting movement is one of the main tools that Israel employs to enforce its regime of occupation over the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories.

Israel restricts the movement of Palestinians within the Occupied Territories, between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, into Israel, and abroad, said the center.

Only Palestinians are restricted in this manner, while settlers and other civilians – Israeli and foreign – are free to travel.

In July 2018, OCHA completed a comprehensive ‘closure survey’ that recorded 705 permanent obstacles across the West Bank restricting or controlling Palestinian vehicular, and in some cases pedestrian, movement. This figure is three per cent higher than in December 2016, the date of the previous survey.

Road obstacles are an integral component of a broader system of access restrictions, citing security reasons, that impedes the movement of Palestinians within the West Bank and contributes to geographical fragmentation, said OCHA.

T.R.