From +972 Magazine
After striking Tehran, the army closed hundreds of gates to seal Palestinians inside towns and strand them on roads — proof of annexation in all but name.
As Israelis awoke early last Friday morning to discover that their country had started a war with Iran, Palestinians in the West Bank found that the Israeli army had placed them under lockdown.
Closures and checkpoints have been the norm in the occupied territory for decades, becoming even more numerous and restrictive in the wake of October 7. But after striking Iran, the army reduced Palestinians’ movement to a near-total standstill — sealing off towns and cities with iron gates, closing checkpoints between the West Bank and Jerusalem, and shutting down the Allenby border crossing with Jordan.
Israel justified the lockdown by claiming it needed to divert troops to other fronts. Yet the remobilization of reservists — many of them settlers — has actually increased the number of soldiers in the territory. The UN now reports that many of the closures have been lifted, but with several checkpoints closed and new gates and roadblocks erected, Palestinian mobility remains highly curtailed.
In East Jerusalem, too, rights groups have reported an escalation in restrictions and repression against Palestinians, including a total ban on worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
“Since the launch of Israel’s military operation in Iran, the authorities have implemented sweeping, heavy-handed measures reminiscent of the aggressive policing that followed October 7,” the Israeli NGOs Ir Amim and Bimkom said in a statement earlier this week. “These actions have severely disrupted daily life, curtailed freedom of worship, and violated the fundamental rights of Palestinian residents in the city.”
The ease with which Israel was able to cut off virtually all movement in and out of Palestinian towns and cities, thanks to an apparatus of control that includes nearly 900 checkpoints and gates, highlights the extent of the occupation’s footprint in the West Bank — and points to Israel’s broader objective for the territory with the world’s attention focused elsewhere.
Shatha Yaish is a journalist covering East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
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