- Israel's policies on roads and highways in the West Bank
are reminiscent of the apartheid regime in South Africa, a report from
a leading Israeli human rights group published Monday said.
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- B'Tselem, the Israeli group that monitors human rights
in the territories called the transportation policies imposed on Palestinians
in the West Bank "the reign of forbidden roads."
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- "The right of West Bank residents to use certain
roads emanates from ethnicity," the report says, adding that "the
transportation policies are a direct result of specific instructions provided
to soldiers in the field."
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- The report's authors noted that, as opposed to South
African policies, the Israel Defense Forces dared not document such practices
in writing.
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- Military sources who reviewed the report said Monday
it deliberately ignored changes in transportation regulations which have
been implemented by the IDF over the past year. The sources said that the
construction of the West Bank barrier and the improved state of security
have allowed the IDF to remove many roadblocks, a fact which the report
does not mention.
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- The sources added that the closure policy imposed on
all West Bank cities was removed nearly a year ago, and that the policy
is in effect only in the city Nablus. The IDF has removed dozens of unmanned
dirt mounds which restricted movement in the past month. Official IDF figures
reveal that the number of unmanned dirt roadblocks were reduced from 215
to 110 in the past months. The number of manned roadblocks was also cut
from 26 to 14.
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- According to B'Tselem, there are 41 manned roadblocks
in the West Bank, including 13 in and around Hebron. However, the checkpoints
in Hebron were erected mainly around the Jewish enclave, and are treated
by the IDF as gates, not roadblocks.
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- The city with the largest number of checkpoints is Nablus,
mainly due to the numerous terror warnings from terror cells in the city.
In Jenin, three checkpoints that were erected in Palestinian territories
were recently removed, and only one roadblock is still operational, on
the road leading from the city's northern entrance to the separation fence.
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- a senior IDF officer who reviewed the report said it
appeared to him as if B'Tselem based its conclusions on data gathered two
years ago and that facts on the ground have since changed.
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- According to senior B'Tselem researcher Najib Abu-Rokaya,
when he asked a soldier why Palestinians were forbidden to drive on a certain
road, he was told the specific road was a "sterile highway."
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- "I don't understand how Jewish soldiers doesn't
think twice before uttering such a statement. That says it all," Abu-Rokaya
said.
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- Officials at B'Tselem said that while choosing a name
for the report they contemplated whether to label Israel's policies apartheid,
or just to point out similarities to the racist South African regime. They
chose the soften version for a title in order to allow the readers to judge
for themselves.
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- One of the differences between the Israel's policies
in the territories and South Africa's former policies is that Israel cites
security concerns while executing its policies. Israel's security services
say that closing roads to Palestinian traffic prevents terror attacks on
those roads and in Israel. B'tselem claims the policy is illegal and should
be avoided.
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- In addition, say B'Tselem officials, closing roads to
all Palestinians is "a racist directive which constitutes a policy
that indiscriminately harms all Palestinians, and therefore infringes on
human rights and is a violations of international law."
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- A senior IDF officer who reviewed the report said it
appeared to him as if B'Tselem based its conclusions on data gathered two
years ago.
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- The officer said there has recently been a policy of
opening roads in the West Bank to Palestinian vehicular traffic, Israel
Radio reported.
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- During the past six months, some 50 IDF roadblocks have
been removed from the West Bank. The officer said that Palestinians do
not need permits or special permission to travel on most roads in the West
Bank.
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