Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Occupation facts: West Bank

"522 roadblocks and checkpoints obstruct Palestinian movement in the West Bank, compared to 503 in July 2010.
  • So far in 2011, an additional 495 ad-hoc ‘flying’ checkpoints obstructed movement around the West Bank each month (on average), compared to 351 in the past two years.
  • 200,000 people from 70 villages are forced to use detours between two to five times longer than the direct route to their closest city due to movement restrictions.
  • One or more of the main entrances are blocked to Palestinian traffic in ten out of eleven major West Bank cities.
  • Palestinians holding West Bank IDs require entry permits to enter East Jerusalem and are limited to using four of the 16 checkpoints along the Barrier.
  • 62 percent of the Barrier is completed, with 80 percent of the Barrier route built inside the West Bank, with highly limited access to areas behind the Barrier.
  • Four of the five roads into the Jordan Valley are not accessible to most Palestinian vehicles.
  • Almost 80 percent of land in the Jordan Valley is off-limits to Palestinians, with the land designated for Israeli settlements, ‘firing zones’ and ‘nature reserves’.
  • 122 closure obstacles shut off the Old City of Hebron from the rest of the city.
  • Palestinian access to their private land around 55 Israeli settlements is highly restricted."
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