JERUSALEM – December 31, 2007 – In response to a petition submitted by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the High Court acknowledged at a hearing today the extreme harm caused to Nablus residents by the Israel Defense Forces’‘ (IDF) sweeping prohibitions on freedom of movement. Pending a Court decision on the petition, ACRI calls on the Court to issue a ruling forbidding the IDF from ordering sweeping prohibitions so as to prevent collective punishment in the West Bank.
In December 2006, ACRI Attorney Limor Yehuda submitted a petition to the High Court, demanding an end to the IDF’‘s refusal to permit entire population groups from exiting the Nablus area in 2006, effectively sealing off an area with 200,000 residents. As a result, the IDF has since changed its policy and now charges that it only imposes restrictions on entire population groups (based on age, gender, or place residence – most commonly males between the ages of 16 and 35) when it receives a warning of an imminent terror attack.
The Court today recommended that ACRI withdraw its petition because restrictions have been eased. However, ACRI claims that this is not enough; restrictions on movement are still harsh and IDF orders, which acutely affect local residents, change daily based on commanders’‘ discretion.
Mohammed Dwiekat, 29, a Nablus attorney, often leaves his city to attend court hearings in Ramallah. “The inspections at the checkpoints surrounding Nablus are very hard,” he said. “I have often lost my cases because I spent many hours at a checkpoint and could not reach the court in time.”
Until ACRI filed the petition, Dwiekat was prohibited from leaving his city because he is under 30; the general closure also continued in brief periods thereafter. He said that during that time many residents changed their place of residence on their ID cards, so they would be able to enter and exit the city freely.
“Still, now when things are better, every day and every week, the orders change,” he said. “When you arrive at the checkpoint, the soldiers say there is a new order with new restrictions on our freedom. They don’‘t explain why; they just say that’‘s what the commander ordered.”
In the petition, Attorney Yehuda argues that sweeping prohibitions on movement are a grave violation of basic rights, including freedom of movement and the right to work. Thousands of Nablus residents – and in effect other West Bank residents who have suffered from movement restrictions in their areas – have been unable to work and suffer from abject poverty and dire living conditions. They are also prevented from visiting family and carrying out other daily activities.
“The State must definitively forbid the issuing of collective punishments, such as sweeping prohibitions of movement on certain population groups, because it ruins the daily lives of thousands of innocent people,” said Yehuda. “The army has the right to fight terror, but it must examine each case based on its own merits, instead of imposing blanket sanctions on entire population groups.”
When ACRI submitted the petition in December 2006, the closure applied to Nablus, three refugee camps, and three adjacent villages, an area that included some 200,000 residents. However, the IDF often orders such sweeping prohibitions on residents of other areas of the northern West Bank, including the cities of Tulkarm and Jenin. Though males aged 16-35 constitute the population category most commonly denied freedom of movement, women belonging to this age group are also restricted as are boys as young as 15.
