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The daily lives of Palestinians are dictated by a complex array of
travel restrictions, checkpoints, barriers, fences and iron gates,
border crossing-points controlled by Israel, a network of roads barred
to Palestinian drivers and the need to apply to an unwieldy Civil
Administration [a branch of the Israeli military government in the
occupied territories] bureaucracy to receive travel permits.
Travel prohibitions and roadblocks have diminished the physical space
that remains at the disposal of Palestinians, divided the West Bank into
enclaves surrounded by a continuity of settlements, and lengthened the
distance between every district, village and city.
The barriers ensure that Palestinian traffic will move further away from
the central routes that mainly serve settlers and other Israelis; it
takes place mainly on narrow roads between villages. Some central
routes, and roads that lead to settlements are forbidden to Palestinian
traffic (they are labelled “sterile” by the army). To many others – that
serve the settlers and other Israelis – access is impossible because of
the obstacles, even if there is no explicit ban on Palestinian drivers.
Palestinian traffic is channeled to several bottlenecks – giant
checkpoints between districts – where they are inspected, delayed and at
times turned back.
The sweeping blow to freedom of movement began in January 1991, with the
cancellation of the “general exit permit” that the army gave the
Palestinians at the beginning of the 1970s, which allowed them to move
freely between Gaza and the West Bank and within Israel. As of January
1991, movement between Gaza and the West Bank and the other way round
and within Israel was allowed only on the basis of individual permits.
Before the cancellation, all Palestinians enjoyed the right of freedom
of movement in the Occupied Territories and in Israel, apart from a few
categories that required special permission – those who were barred for
security reasons or by the police. The situation was reversed in 1991:
freedom of movement was denied to all Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, except for a few categories determined by the Israeli
security authorities (such as: Palestinian VIPs, collaborators,
merchants, workers, employees of the Palestinian Authority and
international organizations, and humanitarian cases. The categories and
the number of people who received individual permits have been
constantly changing since then, but the principle remains the same – it
is the policy of closure.
Checkpoints have existed since the beginning of the occupation. Before
the general exit permit was cancelled the checkpoints were intended
mainly for the purposes of inspection, tracking and arrest of people by
the General Security Service [GSS – Shabak – Shin Bet] and the police.
After 1991 an additional function was assigned to the checkpoints near
the Green Line – enforcement of the closure. For that purpose a security
fence was erected around Gaza. After the beginning of the implementation
of the Oslo Accords in 1994, military positions and checkpoints marked
the “border” between Areas A and B (which were transferred to the civil
and police control of the Palestinian Authority) and Area C (which
remained under Israeli security and civil control) and the settlements.
With the outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000, the number of
checkpoints grew and they were intended to prevent and to reduce the
passage of Palestinians into Area C (about 60% of the area of the West
Bank) and to the nearby settlements. That, for example, is the role of
the checkpoints in the Jordan Valley to the present day, which prevent
the entry of Palestinians to about a third of the territory of the West
Bank. To the permanent and mobile checkpoints were added hundreds of
unmanned physical barriers.
The policy of closure was expanded, then, to the interior of the
territory of the West Bank in conformity with the Israeli assumption
that Area C was “Israel” as long as it was not deemed otherwise in a
final-status agreement. That is to say: from 1991 to 1994 the closure
policy meant separation between Gaza and the West Bank and monitoring
and filtering the entry to Israel. Afterwards the foundations were laid
of potential separation within the West Bank – between the Palestinian
Areas A that were crisscrossed by Area C. That separation was
implemented after 2000.
Requests for permits to travel within Israel, from Gaza to the West Bank
and the other way round and within the West Bank are submitted to the
Civil Administration. The requests are at the mercy of the convoluted
bureaucracy, interference by the GSS, the tradition of protracted and
dragged-out delay, and especially – lack of transparency in the process
of determining the criteria and for denying requests. The difficulty in
receiving permits, the checkpoints and the obstacles on the roads, the
long routes, the wastage of time and the humiliation involved in the
process of getting a permit to visit a family member deter many people,
who prefer to forego travelling 12. within the West Bank, and this is
clearly reflected in its empty roads.
She wanted to go from the West Bank to a funeral in Gaza. The army
suggested: go through Jordan.
AN is a native of Gaza who is married to a resident of Qalqilya. On 13
January her father died in Gaza, and she wanted to return to Gaza to
participate in the funeral. On 15 January she submitted an application
through the Coordination and Liaison Office (CLO) in Qalqilya for a
permit to enter Israel so she could go to Gaza. On 16 January the
soldiers at the CLO orally rejected her request.
AN turned to “Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual”, which
in turn appealed to the Population Registry Department in the Office of
the IDF Legal Advisor in the West Bank. The reply it received the next
day was that “there is no record of any such request being submitted to
the CLO prior the application to our office.” AN’s husband submitted a
new application in her name to the CLO. But according to him it was
reported from the Qalqilya CLO that the application was rejected.
A female officer in the Legal Advisor’s office told a representative of
Hamoked that AN’s previous application, to enter Gaza via Israel in
October, had been rejected. The officer suggested that she travel via
Jordan. Hamoked made clear that this was neither logical nor possible,
and that it was expecting a reply from the Legal Advisor by Thursday 18
January, otherwise it would appeal to the High Court of Justice. 10. On
Wednesday afternoon, 17 January 2007, Haaretz contacted a spokesperson
of the Civil Administration, who explained that the CLO had never
rejected the application, and that the permit was issued and would be
given to AN on Thursday morning.
Translated by Mark Marshall
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P. Rainer Fielenbach OCarm.
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94315 Straubing
Tel. 09421-843713
EMail: rfielenbach@karmelitenorden.de
EMail: musaade.bethlehem@karmelitenorden.de
Herzliche Einladung zum Besuch unserer Homepage: http://www.karmelitenorden.de/straubing/index.html
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Infos zur aktuellen Situation in Palästina, bes. Bethlehem:
- Caritas Babyhospital Bethlehem: http://www.khb.ch
- Evangel. Begegnungszentrum Bethlehem: http://www.annadwa.org/
- Open Bethlehem: http://www.openbethlehem.org/
- Infos aus erster Hand: Heilig. Land aktuell: http://www.palaestina-portal.org/
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