Movement Restrictions

From 1948 to 1966, Palestinians of ’48 living inside Israel lived under military law. All movement outside an official place of residence, no matter what the reason (medical, family or professional, etc.), required a “special permit” provided by the Israeli military authorities. Any Palestinian moving around or sleeping elsewhere and caught outside his or her own house at night without the proper permit was subject to a fine and prison sentence.

In the first years of the creation of the State of Israel, house searches and the hunting down of refugees who had returned illegally to their homes were frequent. This regime continued for twenty years or so; a year after military law was lifted, the Israeli army occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and freedom of movement was strictly curtailed there. From 1972 to 1989, a “general permit” authorized Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to enter Israel and Jerusalem during the day and evening. However, they were forbidden to spend the night there (between 1.00 a.m. and 5.00 a.m.). In June 1989, the Israeli authorities added new restrictions to this “general permit,” refusing it to any individual they considered “a risk.” Then, in January 1991, an “individual travel permit” replaced the “general permit.”

The Oslo Accords perpetuated this system of segregation and restraints which prevented the free circulation of goods and persons. Every infraction brought a fine of between 400 and 15,000 shekels and a prison sentence ranging from a few days to nine months. In the Territories occupied since 1967, the main highways remained under exclusive Israeli control so that Israel maintained the right to allow or forbid access to Palestinians.

Since the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada, restricted movement has been even more enforced. Each Palestinian town and each main highway has been put under real siege. Travelling between villages and cities has become a permanent challenge. Alternative routes have been improvised (ways across fields or on dirt paths, exchanging taxis when passage is closed, and much walking), which Israeli forces have responded to with new obstacles: new ditches, kilometres of huge rolls of razor wire, and even solid walls. Another stage in the restriction of freedom has also transpired: the necessity to ask the occupation authorities in advance for permission to travel from one town to another or from one “canton” or “Bantustan” to another; (this same measure was imposed on those Palestinians living inside Israel from 1948 until 1966).