Violation: the Israeli Occupation Authorities insist on blocking Sinjil entrance.
Location: the southern entrance of the village.
Perpetrators: the Israeli Occupation Army.
Victims: residents of Sinjil (around 7000 people).
Details:
As part of the Israeli mass human rights violations in the West Bank, the Israeli Occupation Army rejected the Palestinian demands of reopening Sinjil entrance which has been closed since 2000 justifying that by hollow claims of security and others. The latest Israeli response was their demand of the removal of three Palestinian residences before talks about reopening.
 |
Picture 1: blocked entrance
Since the blocking of the road, movement in and out of the village has been difficult since the locals had to use a 6-km-long unpaved road (it was partially paved just recently) which was not enough to serve the needs of a village inhabited by around 7000 people. Ayyub Swed of Sinjil Municipal Council said:’the Municipal council and the Municipalities of Ramallah and Al Bireh legal departments have pleaded many times for the reopening of the road which is located in area classified ‘C’ according to Oslo. The road is considered the Aorta for the village and a main road connecting the nearby villages of Jaljalya, Ebouin, and Deir al sudan.Nevertheless, the Israeli Occupation Authorities rejected the pleas on security basis while claiming that there is an alternative route. ‘
The transportation administrative the Israeli Occupation Civil Administration examined the sight and claimed that he intends to to reopen the road under ‘impossible conditions’ including a 250-long line of sight. This means the removal of 2 residents and a workshop in addition to the destruction of large areas of plain fields. Engineer Ali Shabana said: ‘we handed a number of alternative plans to overcome these ‘unreasonable’ conditions, we suggested to make it a one way road or make some modifications to increase the line of sight but we received no response whatsoever‘.
Sinjil:
It is located 20 km north Ramallah and is adjacent to by-pass road ’60’. The village total area is 14000 dunums including 2800 dunums of built-up area which is inhabited by around 7000 people. The unemployment rate in Sinjil has reached up to 25%; many of the locals depend largely on humanitarian aid in their living.
The village has been suffering from the colonists aggressions which occur almost on daily basis. The Israelis planted 5 colonies and a military camp over the village; they used more than 40% of the village lands for colonization and military zones. colonies reside over Sinjil including, Shilo, Ma’ale Livona, Shivut Rahel, Rahut, Albaten.
