by Salah Tmezi
HEBRON, February 6, 2018 (WAFA) - Homes and neighborhoods in a section of Hebron need Israeli security coordination and special permits for their residents to enter or leave them. Roads are blocked by military checkpoints, iron gates, fences and cement cubes that suffocate people living in those parts of the Palestinian city of Hebron.
The legal affairs official in the Hebron Old City Rehabilitation Committee, Tawfiq Jahshan, describes the level of suffering saying: “The occupation forces have reached the top in their tyranny and denial of freedom of people in Hebron through their severe military measures, especially in the old city, which the occupiers want to turn its holy mosque the Ibrahimi mosque, into a Jewish site and to seize its homes and streets to expand the settlements.”
He said that the closures, checkpoints and restricting movement of people in Hebron’s old city are all done under the security pretext and aim to provide security for almost 400 settlers that spread havoc in the city under Israeli army protection and at the expense of 40,000 Palestinians living in the old city.
Around the Ibrahimi mosque and streets leading to it, the Israeli forces set up six metal detector gates, two of them are in Tel Rumeida, where people can go out and in by fingerprints or numbers given to them by Israeli military.
Military checkpoints at the various Palestinian neighborhoods named after them such as Rajabi, Salaymeh and Jaber, isolate these neighborhoods and make life for their residents very difficult.
There are four electronic barriers erected on Shuhada Street, Abu Rish area and al-Ras in addition to an electronic barrier close to Kiryat Arba settlement that isolate Wadi al-Nasara, al-Hassin and Jaber neighborhoods making access to them possible only through ling alternative routes.
In the old city, 110 flying checkpoints are set up, 23 locations in Tel Rumeida, Wadi al-Nasara, al-Hassin, Qab al-Qadi, and Abu Haikal were closed by military orders, buildings and even mosques in the area were closed by military order.
“Education in the old city and arrival of teachers and students to their schools is a challenge in the face of the occupation,” said Rula Hirbawi, principal of al-Fayha girl’s school, which is located in the old city:
“Reaching school is a dangerous daily endeavor since our children have to cross five different checkpoints, some permanent and some flying, pass through metal detectors and army posts before they could reach their school,” she said. “In many cases, students have to take long alternative routes to reach their school if the army has closed the metal gates at the neighborhoods.”
Hirbawi noted the negative impact of the military checkpoints on all sectors, particularly education, which results in poor academic achievement at old city schools, not to mention the psychological impact and behavioral disorders suffered by students due to the continuous tormenting at these checkpoints and sometimes witnessing the murder of Palestinians at the checkpoints.
Jamila Salayme, an elderly woman, is an example of people suffering on Shuhada Street.
“Military checkpoints are there to humiliate us on daily basis,” she said, referring to metal detector gates and checkpoints on the entrance to Shuhada Street and Tel Rumeida, which she called the ”death checkpoint” after 22 Palestinians were murdered there.
Salayme talked about her own suffering at the checkpoint a week ago after returning home from visit to a health clinic. “Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint and settler kids mocked me after coming back from a health clinic as I entered the metal detection checkpoint where I was held for half an hour while suffering from illness and harsh weather condition.”
She added: “I won’t go to the doctor again. I will stay at home at Shuhada Street, fighting disease on my own. The occupation wants us to leave our homes by all means, but we are here to stay, on our lands and in our homes, steadfast in spite of the occupation.”
C/K//M.K.
