- Violation: sealing off the town entrance
- Location: Qabatiya town- Jenin governorate
- Date: February 22, 2016
- Perpetrators: Israeli Occupation Forces
- Victims: residents of the town
Details:
The Israeli Occupation Forces imposed a full closure on the entrances of Qabatiya town at early hours of Monday February 22, 2016 through setting up earth mounds.
It should be marked that the sealed off entrances are considered the town's linking points with the Palestinian cities and villages of the nearby. Not only, the occupation closed agricultural roads that were opened and closed for many times; these roads facilitate farmers movement to fields and groves.
According to the data of field visits, the closed roads are:
- Qabatiya- Mafraq Al-Shuhada road: this road links the village to the area of Mafraq Al-Shuhada and is considered the western entrance of the village that links it to Jenin city too.
- Al-Zababdih- Qabatiya road: this road is considered the eastern entrance of the village, linking Jenin to Tubas city and the villages of the north.
- Qabatiya-Maslyeh road: this road links Qabatiya to the villages of southern Jenin namely (Maslyyeh, Sanour, Jadidih, Mythlon, Jaba' and Seer)
- Qabatiya-Al-Hirsh road: it is a main road linking the village to Jenin city passing by the American University.
In addition, other four agricultural roads leading to main roads and nearby villages were closed in the latest operation.
Photo 1: an aerial photo illustrating the closure locations
Photos 2-3 : the western entrance of Qabatiya
Photo 4: one of the northern agricultural roads
It is indicated that this closure came in the aftermath of killing a Palestinian youth from the nearby town of Beita on the claim of allegedly carrying out a stabbing attack against a soldier. It should be marked that the town got all its entrances sealed off on February 04, 2016 as a response to the killing of colonists in Jerusalem by three young men from the town.
The policy of imposing closures on Palestinian villages and towns comes within the frame of collective punishment, which is one of the means Israel relies on to harass and humiliate unarmed civilians. This forms a violation of human rights and all international conventions of related.
Land Research Center sees closures as a restriction to the right to movement and that it contradicts with all international conventions of related such like :
The Universal Declaration of Human rights1948:
- Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
- Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
- Article 13:
- (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
- (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
- Article 7 prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
- Article 9 recognizes the rights to liberty and security of the person. It prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, requires any deprivation of liberty to be according to law, and obliges parties to allow those deprived of their liberty to challenge their imprisonment through the courts
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
