Surviving Under Siege: New Amnesty International Report on Life Under Israeli Occupation, excerpts:
amjerusalem.org
The widespread impression, in Israeli society and at the international level, was that during the peace process years, following the agreements which resulted in the redeployment of the Israeli army from most Palestinian populated areas in the Occupied Territories and the establishment of the PA, Palestinians were in control of their lives in the new situation of "autonomy" or "self-rule". However, this was not the case.
Current restrictions
Although increasingly stringent restrictions on Palestinian movement in the Occupied Territories are largely in response to the current intifada , the uprising itself was a reaction to the restrictions imposed on Palestinians in the preceding years. Before the outbreak of the intifada, movement restrictions were already significant in determining Palestinians' quality of life and the development of their economy. They contributed to the frustration of hopes for improvements in daily life and future prospects, raised by the peace process. Palestinians found that their newly acquired freedom extended no further than the confines of overcrowded refugee camps and disjointed enclaves, while Israeli settlers expanded and strengthened their hold on the surrounding land and resources.
Tightening of closures in the West Bank
According to the Israeli army, the main roads of the West Bank are for Israeli cars, clearly identifiable by yellow number plates, and military vehicles. Palestinian vehicles, distinguishable by their green license plates, are prohibited. Palestinians have often been in carts pulled by donkeys or mules, a rare sight three years ago.
The Israeli army controls movement in and out of the main towns and many villages in the West Bank by setting up checkpoints on primary and secondary roads and by blocking other roads with earth barricades and cement blocks. In the past year particularly, the army has increasingly taken to digging deep trenches to stop Palestinians opening closed roads.
Villages near Israeli settlements or roads used by settlers have been most cut off. Some villages have been completely besieged by earth ramparts, cement blocks and trenches, making access by vehicle impossible, even for ambulances and tankers carrying essential water supplies. Passage on foot is also far from easy. Climbing up and down dirt mounds carrying shopping bags and small children is difficult even for the young and able. For those carrying heavy or bulky items and for the elderly or disabled people the task is virtually impossible.
Arbitrary closures
When manned checkpoints are not open to pedestrians, travelers may attempt a detour around the checkpoint. As restrictions on movement have intensified, such detours may take travelers miles out of their way, sometimes on tracks over or round steep hills. This, however, involves the risk of being turned back, harassed or even shot. Even in the best of cases, such detours are difficult or impossible for the sick, the elderly or those carrying heavy packages or small children.
The movement of goods has also become increasingly difficult. Since April 2002, the Israeli army has prevented Palestinian trucks from driving between towns in the West Bank. The West Bank has been divided into eight areas -Hebron, Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah, Nablus, Qalqilya, Tulkarem and Jenin. Each has one designated commercial crossing where goods are transferred, under the supervision of Israeli soldiers, from a truck on one side of the checkpoint to a truck on the other side of the checkpoint. This procedure is known as the "back-to-back" system. When checkpoints are open, drivers often have to wait hours. The result of these measures has been to dramatically increase the time and cost of transport, as several vehicles and drivers have to be used, as well as extra people to unload and reload the merchandise at each checkpoint. In addition, the repeated handling of goods and the waiting period causes many of the goods, especially agricultural produce, to get spoilt or damaged.
Curfews
In the past three years, the Israeli army has placed many villages in Areas B and C under 24-hour curfews, and the H-2 area in Hebron and other West Bank cities under extended curfews. In Hebron, the only West Bank city where Israeli settlers live inside the city, such restrictions apply only to the Palestinian inhabitants. The 500 Israeli settlers in H-2 are allowed to leave their homes unrestricted. |
