NABLUS, February 8, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities Monday closed two major checkpoints that link between Nablus and the southern West Bank districts, preventing Palestinians from traveling through.
Soldiers closed Huwwara checkpoint, just on the southern outskirts of Nablus, and Za’tara checkpoint, at Nablus-Ramallah road, in the early morning hours, causing a traffic jam.
The Israeli closure of the two checkpoints forced Palestinian drivers to use alternative long detours in order to reach services and livelihoods.
According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights center, “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.”
The center said that, “In April 2015 there were 96 fixed checkpoints in the West Bank, including 57 internal checkpoints, located well within the West Bank.”
“In April 2015 the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) counted 361 flying checkpoints as compared with 456 in December 2014, 256 in December 2013, and 65 from September 2008 through March 2009.”
B’Tselem maintained that, “One of the declared objectives of Israel‘s policy restricting Palestinian movement is to protect the settlers.”
“ In light of the unlawfulness of the settlements, the restrictions pile one illegal action on top of another: sweeping, disproportionate impairment of freedom of movement of an entire population to realize and perpetuate a policy that is illegal from the start.”
The center noted that, even if the restrictions were intended to prevent attacks inside Israel, and not in settlements, the policy would be illegal given its sweeping and disproportionate nature, which makes it prohibited collective punishment.
“Israel‘s policy is based on the premise that every Palestinian is a security threat, thus justifying restrictions on the person‘s freedom of movement. This racist assumption brings with it the sweeping violation of human rights of an entire population based on national origin. As such, the policy flagrantly breaches international law.”
According to the UN monitoring group OCHA, most Palestinian traffic in the West Bank is “funneled onto secondary and often lower-quality routes affecting their access to services and livelihoods.”
“Most of the movement restrictions imposed on Palestinians aim to protect the 500,000 Israeli settlers living in settlements established in contravention of international humanitarian law, aim to secure land for expansion of settlements, and to improve their connections with Israel,” it said in a 2011 report.
M.N./T.R.
