"At Israel's Will"- New Report on West Bank Permit Policy

international | miscellaneous | press release Wednesday September 17, 2003 15:25 by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel shabtai at phr dot org dot il

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel publishes a new report regarding the permit policy in the West Bank.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel


UPDATE

16 September 2003


'At Israel's Will'


Physicians for Human Rights-Israel publishes a new report regarding the permit policy in the West Bank.


'You can't travel outside the Peninsula without a permit. Go to the checkpoint and show them your permit and your papers. And listen to me: you want to stop on the expressway, you pull fifty metres off the roadside. That's the regulation: fifty metres either side. Anything nearer, you can get shot, no warning, no questions asked. Understand?'



('Life & Times of Michael K' , J. M. COETZEE, a South African Writer on the period of Apartheid)



After having prohibited Palestinians from entering into Israel; after having prohibited free passage between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; after having prohibited their entrance into East Jerusalem; Israel is prohibiting internal movement within the West Bank. Any passage between one village and another is illegal, unless the Palestinian resident is "equipped" with a passage permit given by the Civil Administration. Such a situation, especially when prolonged, destroys and ruins all the civil systems that were built by the Palestinian society, including the health system.



Israel's control of the physical passageways within the Occupied Territories, coupled with the massive finances invested into the building of the fence structure and system, verify that this is not a temporary arrangement.



To a great extent, these permits and the readiness of many sectors in Palestinian society to request them are the strongest evidence for the depth of oppression that Palestinian society experiences, and for the internalization of this oppression.



To download the report in English:

http://www.phr.org.il/Phr/downloads/dl_160.doc


Physicians for Human Rights–Israel (PHR–Israel) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization founded in 1988 and currently comprising some 800 members, with the aim of striving to promote medical human rights in Israel and in the territories under Israel’s effective control. The basic values of PHR–Israel are human dignity, protection of bodily and mental integrity, and promotion of the right to health and medical care.

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