HEBRON, February 15, 2015 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Sunday set up military checkpoints at the entrances of the towns of Beit Ummar and Anata, north of Hebron and northeast of Jerusalem, respectively, hampering the movement of residents, according to local sources.

The coordinator of the popular committee against settlements and the Apartheid Wall, Mohammad Awad, told WAFA Israeli forces set up a military checkpoint at the entrance of Beit Ummar in Hebron, checking residents’ identity cards and searching their vehicles, causing a traffic jam.

 A number of youths were detained for several hours before Israeli soldiers released them.

Meanwhile in Anata town, soldiers set up a military checkpoint at the town’s main eastern entrance, stopping passing Palestinian registered cars and checking their identity cards in a provocative and slow manner, hampering residents’ access to their places of work and students’ access to schools.

B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories, said in a report, “Israel's restrictions on Palestinians' freedom of movement in the West Bank are enforced by a system of fixed checkpoints, surprise flying checkpoints, physical obstructions, roads on which Palestinians are forbidden to travel, and gates along the Separation Barrier. The restrictions enable Israel to control Palestinian movement throughout the West Bank as suits its interests, in a sweeping breach of Palestinians' rights.”

It said that, “Prolonged checks and searches at some of the checkpoints, humiliating treatment by soldiers, and long lines deter Palestinian drivers from using some of the roads still open to their use. As a result, Palestinian movement on some of the main roads in the West Bank has decreased, and these roads are used almost exclusively by settlers.”

B'Tselem said that in February 2014 there were 99 fixed checkpoints in the West Bank: 59 are internal checkpoints, located well within the West Bank.

T.R/M.H