ISRAEL-OPT: Travel restrictions in West Bank eased for Ramadan

Photo: Kobi Wolf/IRIN

Israeli soldiers search a Palestinian's car at the Hawera checkpoint outside the town of Nablus in the West Bank

TEL AVIV, 24 August 2009 (IRIN) - Israel has eased some of its travel restrictions for Palestinians in the West Bank during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) spokesperson’s unit.

Two West Bank crossings will now stay open till midnight instead of 7pm: Jalama, north of Jenin, and Beit Mishpat near Ramallah. All other checkpoints are set to operate as usual.

Israel’s Arab citizens will be allowed to enter Bethlehem via the Rachel crossing to visit their families in the West Bank, and some Palestinian families who have relatives in Israel will be given permission to cross into Israel for a week, according to IDF.

Only Palestinian men over 50 and women over 45 will be allowed to enter Jerusalem’s Temple Mount for prayers at al-Aqsa mosque, IDF said.

According to an IDF spokesperson, the Israeli authorities have briefed all their forces on the new measures, and have also instructed IDF soldiers in the West Bank to refrain from eating and drinking in public as a mark of respect.

Photo: Kobi Wolf/IRIN

Israeli soldiers inspect Palestinians' documents at Hawera checkpoint outside Nablus

Sarit Michaeli, a spokesperson for the Israeli B'tselem human rights NGO, said there are currently 39 crossings/checkpoints operating between Israel and the West Bank and about 60 more in the West Bank, some manned 24/7, others randomly. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’s (OCHA’s) West Bank Access and Movement Update June 2009, there are 68 checkpoints in the West Bank.

While B'tselem recognizes a certain easing of the checks being carried out at checkpoints inside the West Bank, it says this is only inside the main West Bank area itself, and mainly for vehicles.

According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Monitor July 2009, there were no major changes in Palestinian movement and access in July; the easing reported over the past few months continues, while the number of “closure obstacles” - checkpoints, roadblocks, metal gates, earth mounds, walls, trenches and other barriers - in and around the West Bank and Gaza remains constant, with a total of 614 staffed and unstaffed obstacles in July, compared to 613 in June.

Aid workers have long complained that the existence of such obstacles impedes the delivery of humanitarian aid.

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