Concealed Intentions- JLAC-.pdf

there were 232 kilometers of roads in the West Bank that Israel classified for the sole use of Jewish settlers. 143 The
ICA’s road planning policies are clearly used as a mean to reduce Palestinian freedom of movement while facilitating
Jewish settlers’ access to their settlements and to Israel proper. 144 In addition to appropriation of land to facilitate
settler activity, the construction of the Annexation Wall has also drastically increased the difficulties for Palestinians to
move freely throughout the West Bank. 145
Aside from restrictions on freedom of movement, actual access to the land itself has been seriously reduced.
Approximately 10% of the West Bank is a designated nature reserve, 146 prohibiting herders and farmers from
access to the fertile land necessary for
grazing and agricultural production.
Nearly 18% of the West Bank was also
designated as closed military zones for
use as military training ground or “firing”
zones. 147 In 2010, around 65% of “Area
C” demolitions were carried out in these
“firing zones.” 148 The village of Khirbet
Tana, for example, consists of residents
who have lived in the area for decades,
but was declared as a “firing zone” by the
Israeli military. After the Israeli Supreme
Court denied the village’s 2008 petition
for the preparation of an adequate
planning scheme, the village has faced
repeated cases of demolition. On March
Annexation Wall in the West Bank city of Qalqilya
15, 2011, all structures in the village were
destroyed, making it the sixth time the
ICA has demolished structures in the
village since 2005, and the fourth in the last four months. 149
The roads network exclusive for use by Israelis or Jewish settlers, along with the Jewish settlements, nature reserves,
firing zones, and the Annexation wall – all created or permitted by the ICA’s zoning and planning policies – are a small
sample of the obstacles that deny Palestinians their right to freedom of movement, 150 serving to further isolate them
from each other, separate them from fertile land, and impose on them excruciating delays and higher transportation
costs. In response to the obstacles Palestinians face, the World Bank even concluded, “Freedom of movement and
access for Palestinians within the West Bank is the exception rather than the norm.” 151
143 B’Tselem, Restrictions on Movement: Checkpoints, Physical Obstructions, and Forbidden Roads. Viewed on 17/2/2011.
144 Bimkom, The Prohibited Zone, op. cit, p. 138.
145 OCHA, Five years after the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice: A Summary of the Humanitarian Impact of the Barrier, July 2009.
146 OCHA, Restricting Space, op. cit.
147 Ibid.
148 OCHA, Khirbet Tana: Large-Scale Demolitions for the Third Time in Just Over a Year, February 2011, p. 1.
149 B’tselem, Planning and Building, 15 March 2011: Civil Administration demolishes Jordan Valley village Khirbet Tana. Viewed on 14/4/2011.
150 International Covenant on Civil and Political rights: Article 12.1. “Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right
to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence;” Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 13: “Everyone has the right to freedom of
movement and residence within the borders of each state.”
151 World Bank Technical Team, Movement and Access Restrictions in the West Bank: Uncertainty and Inefficiency in the Palestinian Economy, 9 May 2007, p.1.
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