By EA Andy, Southern West Bank.
It was only recently that movement to and from Ramallah, the political and economic centre of Palestine, was severely restricted after a shooting attack that wounded three Israeli soldiers. Checkpoints were shut down, preventing tens of thousands of Palestinians from entering or exiting the city. This is collective punishment, in clear violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article 50 of the Hague Regulations, and an unnecessary disruption of daily civilian life.
When people are treated inhumanely and they feel so much trapped in ‘cages’ and surrounded by concrete walls, there is often that temptation to resort to violence. This is most recently borne by a reminder from the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, when he said that:
“History proves that people will always resist occupation.”
Not all checkpoints, however, are places of physical conflict though a checkpoint by its very existence is a serious violation of international law, freedom of movement, human dignity and respect. These are rights enshrined in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Checkpoint 300 between Bethlehem and Jerusalem in the early hours of the morning. The checkpoint is flanked on either side by the high walls of the Israeli Separation Barrier [Photo: EAPPI/A.Lie]
The Israeli ‘Separation Barrier’ hampers the movement of thousands of Palestinians who used to move freely between Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank till about the early 2000s, the start of the second Palestinian uprising, or “Intifada”. In 2004, the International Court of Justice declared the path of the barrier – 80% of which has been built on Palestinian land – to be illegal. Yet it is relentlessly extended daily, cutting deep into Palestinian land in places such as the Bir-Ouna area of Beit Jala and Cremisan Valley (as widely reported in the past year) to the west of Bethlehem. Israel considers this annexed land part of what they call the Greater Jerusalem urban settler development.
Monitoring of CP 300 is one of the Bethlehem Team’s regular duties. Enduring images are of the scramble at the main entrance, the surge (lots of intense pushing, shoving and bone-breaking squeezing!) into the Main Lane especially between 4:30 – 6:30 in the morning when men and women are trying to get to work, and the desperate cutting of queues by those worried about being late.

Palestinian workers starting to crowd at the entrance of Bethlehem’s CP300 at 4am [Photo: EAPPI/A.Lie]