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Since the beginning of the Oslo Peace Accords and
the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in 1994 Israel has
consolidated its closure policy first introduced in 1991. Whereas
Palestinians could move fairly freely between the West Bank and East
Jerusalem as well as between the Gaza strip and the West Bank before the
beginning of the peace process, this has changed dramatically, specially since the
outbreak of the al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000. Already in October
2000 the "Safe Passage" road designed to allow free movement for Palestinians
between the Gaza strip and the West Bank was closed and it has not been reopened
since. Consequently, families and friends have not been able to
visit each other and students and workers have been unable to attend universities
and work places. |
The que at Abu Houli checkpoint Photo:
PCHR Field worker
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Besides the social and human consequences of the
Israeli closure policy, it has also had a devastating effect on Palestinian
economy. Not only is Israel controlling all movement between the West Bank and Gaza, it also
controls the borders between the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and
Egypt, Jordan and Israel itself, making it impossible for people to get to their
work places in Israel, as well as for businesses to export their commodities |
Consequently, both the unemployment rate and the
number of people living below the international poverty level at 2 dollars per
day have risen dramatically in the OPT.
Furthermore, Israel controls all movement within the
Palestinian controlled areas, posing strict restrictions on the civilian
population in order for them to move between villages. Often areas are totally
sealed off for days by military checkpoints. Students are prevented from
reaching their schools and universities, workers can not get to their work
places and commodities can not reach markets just a few kilometers from where
they are produced. The Israeli closure policy affects every aspect of
Palestinian life as a form of collective punishment illegal under the Fourth Geneva
Convention; the policy is also a violation of several Articles in
the UN International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Moreover, the
UN Committee Against Torture has found that the Israeli government's closure
policy "may, in certain instances, amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment" in violation of the UN Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has put
together a collection of links on the subject "closure" in order to make it
easier for the users of our web site to get an adequate impression of the
Israeli closure policy.
Relevant Articles in International Humanitarian Law
Fact sheet: Siege and Closure
Statistics
PCHR Closure Reports
Articles and Feature Stories from the International Media
External Reports
Checkpoint maps of the
Gaza strip and the
West Bank
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