Growing Israeli restrictions trap Palestinians in Hebron’s Old City
Palestinian child stands at an Israeli checkpoint in Hebron in the occupied West Bank
Fayha Shalash reports in Middle East Eye on 13 November 2024:
Living in Hebron’s Old City, Imad Abu Shamsiyeh has long suffered from humiliating Israeli checkpoints, movement restrictions and settler harassment.
Access to his house in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood, which is adjacent to settlements and settler-only roads, has been severely restricted for years.
But earlier this week, Israeli forces took things a step further. They placed barbed wire between his home and his neighbour’s, blocking the last route he and others took to avoid running into the soldiers.
“Every house has been turned into a prison,” Abu Shamsiyeh, 54, told Middle East Eye.
Since the Israeli war on Gaza began last year, the military has been imposing severe restrictions on movements across the occupied West Bank, including Hebron, the only Palestinian city alongside Jerusalem where Israeli settlers reside in the Old City.
For decades, this has meant direct Israeli control over parts of Hebron’s Old City, where nearly 35,000 Palestinians and some 800 settlers live.
The settlers are provided with protection by the soldiers, designated segregated roads and given full freedom of movement.
On the other hand, the Palestinians are forced to go through 28 checkpoints and dozens of military barriers, often being subjected to humiliating and long searches, sexual harassment and even arrest without cause.
“Women and children are arrested at checkpoints and mistreated,” said Abu Shamsiyeh.
Activists and journalists have documented sexual harassment of women during their arrest, but none of the soldiers were held accountable, and children were brutally beaten without any deterrence.” To avoid these checkpoints, hundreds of the Old City’s Palestinian residents used to take a longer alternative route, which passed through Abu Shamsiyeh’s home.