IDF – District of Judea and Samaria
Office of the Military Legal Advisor
Beit El
P.O.B. 5
90631
To:
Att. Limor Yehuda
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel
Re: Restrictions on Movement in the City of Hebron -Unauthorized Instructions
1. We hereby confirm receipt of your letter-dated 19.11.06.
2. After the receipt of your letter a full inquiry was held by officials from the IDF Judea Brigade and the Hebron D.C.O., to investigate the claims that were contained in the letter. Set forth below are the results of this inquiry.
3. Shuhada Street – in the aforementioned letter, it was claimed that Palestinians are denied pedestrian passage in this street. It was also claimed that the road turning from Shuhada Street to the “Zahav Market,” the Chicken Market and Hashlalot Streets had been blocked by the IDF.
4. With regard to this issue we would like to inform you that as a result of an inquiry that was carried out by Judea Brigade it appears that you are correct, and in fact Palestinians have been erroneously denied pedestrian movement through Shuhada Street, west of Gross Square. A new instruction has therefore been issued by officials from the IDF Division that permits pedestrian movement, which will of course be subject to security checks. We hope that this will be sufficient to resolve the issue denoted above.
5. With regard to the road blocks that prevent passage from the Zahav Market, the Chicken Market, and Hashlalot Streets to Shuhada Street; these road blocks are part of a general operational plan that is designed to provide security to the Jewish settlement bloc in the city of Hebron, (please see the state’‘s response to the High Court of Justice petition H.C.J. 11235/04 The Hebron Municipality v. The IDF Commanding Officer, which relates to the operational plan for the defense of the Jewish settlement bloc in the city of Hebron, and to the High Court of Justice case H.C.J. 7044/06 The Hebron Municipality v. The IDF Commanding Officer, which relates to the roofing of the markets listed above). Needless to say, there is nothing to prevent access to these markets from the area of the Casbah in Hebron.
6. Tel-Rumeida – in your letter it was claimed that Palestinians and Israelis (who are not settlers) are denied passage in the area of the Tel-Rumeida neighborhood.
7. To redress this issue, an explicit instruction was issued to IDF soldiers to allow all Israelis movement in the area of the Tel-Rumeida neighborhood. The soldiers were also instructed not to prevent the passage of Palestinian pedestrians through Jilbar Street (which borders the area that is subject to a closure order in the neighborhood of Tel-Rumeida).
8.Vehicular Movement – in your letter it is further claimed that Palestinian vehicular movement is prohibited on New Shalala St.
9. With regard to this issue, we were informed by officials from the IDF Judea Brigade, that in general there is no security prohibition on the passage of Palestinian vehicles in this area, and in the event that physical blockades have been erected, which prevent vehicles from traveling on this street, they will be removed.
10. It should be emphasized that we would be happy to receive any report from you of any suspected violations of the obligations undertaken by the state before the High Court of Justice within the framework of the aforementioned security plan, this will enable us to investigate and closely supervise whether or not these obligations are being adhered to.
Respectfully,
Captain Harel Weinberg
Advisor in the Criminal and Security Department
On behalf of the Military Legal Advisor – Judea and Samaria
C.c. (by e-mail):
The Military Commander of Judea and Samaria
Military Judge Advocate General
Military Assistant to the IDF Division – Judea and Samaria
Military Legal Advisor – Judea and Samaria
IDF Division -Judea and Samaria
Deputy Legal Advisor – Judea and Samaria
Deputy Attorney General for Special Projects – Att. Nitzan (by fax)
Head of the Security and Criminal Division – here
The Ministry of Justice – High Court Division – Att. Roitman (by fax)
last updated : 11/02/07
