Historically, West Bank cities are one land with no borders and no fence separating them, but due to the Israeli apartheid policy, each city has become isolated from the other, not only due to the Apartheid Wall, but also due to the Israeli iron barriers that also divided one city into several parts separated from each other Some time, the distance traveled by the Palestinian Khaled Maali, a resident of the West Bank city of Salfit, to the neighboring city of Nablus, previously took ten minutes, but today it extends to more than four hours in order to obtain the approval of the soldiers, and in many cases This short distance turns into a cruel journey of suffering that ends without being able to move one meter in front of the Israeli Zaatara checkpoint, which separates Salfit, Nablus and the city of Ramallah.
This is part of the real scenes of a realistic tragedy that the residents of the West Bank cities are swallowing on a daily basis, due to the military checkpoints and iron gates that the occupation erected inside the towns and villages, and between the neighboring cities, as well as on the gates of the Apartheid Wall, which isolates the owners of the land from their farms that were swallowed by the wall And settlement.
According to Palestinian statistics, the occupation permanently establishes 705 barriers in all areas and areas of the West Bank, to restrict the freedom of movement and movement of Palestinian citizens, and paralyze their daily lives, and includes 140 checkpoints on which soldiers are permanently stationed, 165 military gates, 149 dirt covers, and 251 obstacles represented in barricades Roads, trenches, and dirt walls.
Bitter tragedies
These barriers and iron gates are spread inside all cities of the West Bank, and most of those cities that suffer great suffering by these gates are: Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Salfit, Qalqilya, Tulkarem, and Bethlehem. Salfit has 15 barriers distributed at the entrance to the city and between Its villages and towns, and at the gates of the wall, which bear witness to the treatment of racist occupation against the Palestinians, according to Israeli specialist Khaled Maali.
His Excellency said in an exclusive interview with "Emirates Today": "The occupation retaliates against the Palestinians on a daily basis through the gates and iron barriers that it establishes in the villages and towns of the West Bank, which increases the suffering of citizens. Thousands accumulate in the hours of dawn every day in front of those gates waiting Allow them to enter their workplaces in search of livelihood, or to cultivate their agricultural lands that are behind the wall, or to receive treatment in hospitals and health clinics in the vicinity. »
And he points out that this prohibition pushed many Palestinian residents to take rough roads between mountains and valleys in order to reach the surrounding areas, which exhausts citizens, especially the sick and chronically ill from the elderly and women.
"In the town of Kifl Haris, west of Salfit, the occupation closes its entrances repeatedly, and deprives the residents of the town and the neighboring villages of freedom of movement, so that the mountains and rugged lands become a substitute for the closed entrances," he added.
Strangle the citizens
The Palestinian researcher shows in the Israeli issue that the occupation aims to erect iron gates to strangle citizens, impose a policy of collective punishment on the people, and force them to migrate from their lands forcibly, in addition to using them to chase and arrest Palestinian youths.
A big prison
He is located in the town of Azzun, east of the city of Qalqilya in the north of the West Bank, everything in it tells him that he is inside a large prison, where the apartheid wall, six military iron gates, four watchtowers, checkpoints and fixed and mobile checkpoints, and besides all this, is surrounded by six settlements perched on its land , And lands of neighboring towns.
These gates, which surround 12 thousand people living in the town of Azzun, are closed by the occupation without declared reasons, the most important of which is the main gate at the northern entrance to the town.
The human rights activist to defend the town of Azzun Hassan Shabita says that the city of Azzun, like the Palestinian towns in the West Bank, is under the domination of the occupation gates and barriers, so the decision of only one soldier at the barrier is enough to turn Azzun into a ghost area and a prison, where the movement of its residents and with them thousands of citizens From the neighboring villages.
Shabita notes that the military gates committed collective punishment against the Palestinians in the town of Azzun, and all the cities of the West Bank, adding, “The gates witnessed the death of dozens of patients on their doorstep, as a result of the lack of ambulances, and preventing patients from moving to receive treatment.”
Compulsive gates
Military gates and iron barriers are described by human rights institutions and Palestinians in compulsion, as they were set according to the laws of occupation, and oppress and humiliate anyone who wants to move through them, in addition to restricting the freedom of movement to move Palestinian citizens inside villages and cities, except for separating them from the neighboring Palestinian cities, which are historically one land, And besiege it from all sides, and turn it into a big prison.
Salah Al-Khawaja, the coordinator of the popular campaign to resist the wall and settlements, said, "There is no continuous population gathering in West Bank cities and villages except for the occupation to put iron gates at its entrances, while it is spreading in areas near the settlements, besieged by the bypass roads that reach the settlements."
Al-Khawaja notes that the gates are a prelude to a dangerous settlement scenario, aimed at killing movement, life and mobility, and using them as collective punishment, and part of the plan to annex areas in the West Bank to the borders of settlements, and to turn the West Bank into isolated areas.
He points to the presence of barriers and gates used to separate and isolate the Jordan Valley area and the east of the West Bank, and another to separate the northern West Bank from its south, as well as to isolate villages inside the same city.
Confiscation of freedom of movement and movement of Palestinians in the West Bank
According to reports by the Israeli organization B'Tselem, to monitor Israeli violations in the occupied Palestinian territories, the occupation forces
Many restrictions are imposed on the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank through a number of tools that together constitute a single system of control that works almost consistently:
Physical barriers: earthen piles, concrete blocks, rocks, walls, canals and iron gates. As of this writing, there are 455 such barriers across the West Bank.
Fixed checkpoints: Today, there are 82 fixed checkpoints throughout the West Bank, of which 35 are considered final checkpoints before reaching Israeli territory, while the remaining 47 checkpoints operate to control movement and movement within the West Bank.
Mobile checkpoints: Every week, more than 100 pilot checkpoints are installed inside the West Bank, between fixed checkpoints.
The Separation Wall: The total length of the separation wall, upon completion of its construction, is expected to reach 721 km. Only about 20% of the wall is adjacent to the Green Line, while the rest penetrates deep into the West Bank by generating pockets whose entry is subject to a system of permits.
Blockade: This method is used by blocking access roads to a specific area by means of obstacles on the ground, so that access is available only through fixed and reinforced barriers with human elements. Passing through these checkpoints is subject to passing a security check and, in certain cases, the issuance of permits. The blockade is imposed in varying degrees on the area of Nablus and the Jordan Valley.
Mobile checkpoints: Every week, more than 100 pilot checkpoints are installed inside the West Bank, between fixed checkpoints.
Strict enforcement of traffic laws: This method contributes to deterring the Palestinian population from using the streets that the Palestinians are entitled to use.
Paving the streets of the "fabric of life": This means contributes to controlling the movement of Palestinians by excluding the movement of Palestinians from the main streets designated for the movement of Israelis.
The prohibition pushed many Palestinian residents to take rough roads between mountains and valleys in order to reach the surrounding areas, which exhausted citizens, especially the sick and the chronically ill from the elderly and women.