Movement
by EA Vero and EA Emma – 19 min read
“Hala studies applied chemistry at university. She lives in Yanoun, a small village to the south of Nablus, the city where she studies. Every day, to get to class, Hala catches a school minibus that takes children to Aqraba, the nearest town. There she waits for another public minibus to take her to Nablus. Her journey can take around two hours.”
“It hasn’t always been this way. The inhabitants of Yanoun and the neighbouring villages used to be able to travel to Nablus by a road that crosses the hills and arrive there in about 20 minutes. Nablus is a crucial hub in the northern part of the West Bank, where people study, work, conduct business, go to church, to the mosque, go to hospital or meet with friends and family.”
Students from the Cordoba school in Tel Rumeida, Hebron heading for a trip to Betlehem.
“The road still exists, but now people with Palestinian ID cards cannot use it. On the other hand, people with Israeli IDs have the freedom to cross from one place to the other via the road. This restriction has existed since the establishment of the outposts of the Itamar settlement in the hills around Yanoun in 2012. Any attempt by Palestinians to travel by this road means risking suffering an attack in the moment, and reprisals to ones family and fields.
And so Hala and many others have to find their way to Nablus by other routes each day. Her route still carries potential restrictions, each day she has to pass through Tappuah/Za’atara crossing, a place of high security, monitored by towers and drones, where stopping can lead to prison or physical harm. She also crosses Huwara/Awarta checkpoint, and potentially flying checkpoints that allow the Israeli military to shut a road at any moment.” EA, Vero
As of January 2017, there were 476 unstaffed physical obstacles along West Bank roads – including dirt mounds, concrete blocks, and fenced-off segments.
(Source B’Tselem / data from B’Tselem)
As of January 2017, there are 98 checkpoints in the West Bank:
Permanent checkpoints located deep within the West Bank: 59
Staffed checkpoints: 39*
*which are considered points of entry into Israel although most are located several kilometres into the West Bank.
Flying, or ‘pop-up, checkpoints: 2,941*
*an average of 327 a month
Freedom of movement is the right of every person to move freely and choose their place of residence in every state. At the same time, everyone has the right to leave any country, including their own, and the right to return to their country. This right is enshrined in article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. From this foundation, every country determines their laws and regulations for their own territory to define this liberty.
For Palestinians however, it is the Israeli government that dictates, controls and regulates their movements, based on the argument of the need to ensure the security of the State of Israel. Restricting movement is one of the main tools the Israeli government employs to enforce its regime of occupation. Israel imposes restrictions on the movement of Palestinians within the West Bank, and travel between it and the Gaza Strip, into East Jerusalem, Israel, and abroad.
These restrictions do not only apply to people, but also to goods and supplies. This has an enormous impact on commercial development in Palestine, resulting in a highly unstable economy. At the same time, prohibitions on imports of medical supplies and food supplies have resulted in the need for significant support from international humanitarian aid agencies.
Palestinian Muslims wait to access worship during Ramadan
These restrictions on movement are framed within a dual legal system, civil and military. Palestinians are governed according the military system, which imposes multiple complex limitations on their freedoms, including freedom of movement. Israeli settlers, on the other hand, living illegally within the occupied West Bank, are governed according to Israeli civil law, enjoying the rights and freedoms that entails.
The Israeli military authority in the West Bank uses a system of permits to regulate the movement of Palestinians throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as between the West Bank and Israel, whether it is to enter Israel to work, travel to the Gaza Strip, leave occupied Palestine to travel elsewhere in the world, or access their own agricultural land. Types of permit vary in duration and the specific limitations of access, from long term permits to travel to Israel to work, or a single day’s entry for medical treatment. At the same time, they can specify the hours in which the person can cross the checkpoint.
Obtaining a permit to cross a checkpoint can take months. The bureaucratic system is complex and often arbitrary and opaque. Permits can be denied without justification or the recourse to appeal and can also be revoked without explanation at any moment. People may be added to a ‘blacklist’, meaning they cannot apply for permits, for reasons of ‘security’, though they are not informed what these reasons are.
This permit system works in conjunction with a large range of physical barriers that impede free movement. Internationally, checkpoints are the most well-known, alongside the separation barrier. To these are added more informal, less clearly marked and at times random barriers. These include barricades, trenches, mounds of earth, barbed wire fences, roads that are closed or ‘only for settlers’ and closed military zones.
Image of the Separation Barrier in Bethlehem
