January 24, 2018
Press Release - for immediate publication
Over 7,000 people collectively punished: Israel imposes harsh restrictions on access to village of Hizma
For more than a week, the Israeli military has been severely restricting
access into and out of the Palestinian village of Hizma in the West
Bank, apparently in response to stone-throwing along a nearby road.
Soldiers have been deployed at all entrances to the village, and
physical roadblocks have been put in place barring vehicular access. At
various points during this time, only registered residents of the
village were allowed in, and men under 40 were not allowed out.
Restricting the freedom of movement of some 7,000 people constitutes
collective punishment, which is prohibited under international law.
While the first to suffer are the most vulnerable, those who have
difficulty moving around to begin with, the restrictions affect all
residents of the village and disrupt their daily lives. Yet again, this
type of occurrence illustrates routine life under occupation and the
Israeli military’s arbitrary use of its power in dealing with the
Palestinian population.
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Video footage by ‘Amer ‘Aruri, B’Tselem
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On Tuesday, 16 January 2018, at around 5:00
P.M., troops arrived at the village with bulldozers and blocked off the
main – northern – entrance to the village with boulders, barring all
entry and exit by car. Soldiers were stationed at the two southern
entrances. One of the two southern entrances is near the community of
Tublas and leads to a dirt road that connects the village to Route 437
at an intersection close to the village of ‘Anata.
On Thursday morning, 18 January, the military replaced the boulders at
the northern entrance with concrete blocks. Soldiers were stationed near
them and allowed no one to enter or exit the village at that spot until
7:00 P.M.
The next day (Friday, 19 January), the military forbade any Palestinian
not registered as a village resident to enter the village, from the
morning until 9:00 P.M. Men between the ages of 18 and 40 were not
allowed to leave at all. These harsh constraints disrupted a funeral and
a wedding held in the village that day.
The next morning (Saturday, 20 January), the military reopened the two
southern entrances to the village but left the concrete blocks in place
at the northern entrance, so only pedestrians could get through there.
Yesterday morning (Tuesday, 24 January), soldiers were again deployed at
all three entrances to the village and a gate was installed at the
southern entrance that lies close to the community of Tublas. Only
registered residents were allowed into the village. The roadblocks
forced residents to drive on treacherous dirt tracks. This state of
affairs continued today (Wednesday, 24 January).
The military has already been known to close off the entrances to Hizma.
Most recently, in March and April 2017, the military closed off the
northern entrance to the village for 40 days and the two southern
entrances for 20 days.
The village of Hizma is home to over 7,000 people. It lies northeast of
Jerusalem, most of it on land defined as Area C, which is under full
Israeli control. Over the years, Israel has expropriated large swathes
of land from the village. These have been used to establish the large
settlements of Pisgat Ze’ev and Neve Ya’akov to the west, as well as the
Separation Barrier, which cuts off the village from East Jerusalem. To
the north of Hizma, Israel established the settlement of Geva Binyamin,
and the settlement of Almon east of the village. Some 30 hectares of
land were expropriated from village residents and used to pave Route
437, which runs close to the village.
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For additional information: Amit Gilutz, +972-54-6841126, amit@btselem.org
Our mailing address is
B'Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
P.O. Box 53132, Jerusalem 9153002
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