In 2002 Israel starts building a separation wall. The wall is not erected on the Green Line border, as required under international law, but deep inside the occupied territory. Palestinian land is thus trapped within an area designated the “seam zone” – isolated on one side from the rest of the West Bank, and on the other from the State of Israel. With the building of the wall, the military starts imposing a draconian permit regime in the enclosed area, under which, inter alia, every Palestinian who lives inside the “seam zone” or seeks to enter it, is required to obtain a special permit in advance for the purpose. The permit regime is tantamount to apartheid as it applies to Palestinians only, while Israelis and tourists are exempt from obtaining any sort of permit if they want to enter the “seam zone” or remain there.
The implementation of the permit regime by the military saps the Palestinians’ ability to lead normal lives. The permit regime turns on its head the premise of international law, whereby a person must be allowed free movement inside his country, and effectively serves as a means of collective punishment of the entire population of the OPT. The violation of the right of freedom of movement leads to the violation of other human rights: The right to family life, health, education, property, livelihood, culture and social and community life, all attended by a flagrant violation of the right to equality and human dignity.
The breach of human rights caused by the permit regime has devastating consequences; in effect it is a slinking dispossession of West Bank lands under a mantle of bureaucracy instituted in military legislation and sanctioned by the Supreme Court of the State of Israel.
Separation Wall – Map print version
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