Dr. Elham Jaber Shamali

Israeli barriers have been described as death traps, because they represent one of the worst manifestations of the Israeli occupation's racism. They violate human rights, as every Palestinian crossing them undergoes the danger of loss, systematic death, abusive detention, and doubts and suspicion. This is a policy of extrajudicial execution, practiced over barriers which number has reached 705, and cover the West Bank's area which does not exceed 5.860 km2, in order to isolate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip on the one hand, and separate both from Jordan on the other hand. They also divide the West Bank into six units isolated from each other; the access key to them is the iron and electronic gates, including 165 ones that are constant on the entrances of Palestinian cities and villages.

These barriers perform three tasks, represented in managing Palestinians according to an Israeli colonial system, considering Palestinians to have no rights and their tolerance requires controls. It's not true that they are security barriers in the first place, but an occupation tool that does what other colonial tools do to increase the daily suffering of citizens, according to a racist system ranging between isolation, paralysis of movement and, most importantly, encouragement of Palestinians to migrate and give up on their land and identity. They are also a means to confiscate more lands in accordance to unjust military decisions and Israeli security pretexts.

The function of those barriers is no longer just to divide the West Bank into fractured cantons, and separate it from its surroundings, but rather serve as mini prisons for Palestinian cities and denies access to the areas behind the Wall and East Al-Quds without having special permits, and thus tights restrictions over them, impedes the geographical communication between villages and cities, and deprives them from human contact. In fact, these barriers are the daily reminder of the meaning of occupation that deprives a Palestinian of his rights.

Israeli barriers consist of two basic components: an infrastructure that obstructs the movement of vehicles and pedestrians; and a permanent presence of security -managed by the army, Border Patrol or private companies contracted by occupation authorities. They are equipped with surveillance cameras, military towers, iron gates and search rooms, and ranged between fixed military barriers, electronic gates, sand barriers, cement cubes and barricades, along with volatile or snap barriers, which number has reached sometimes to 4,926 surprise barriers; 60 per week.

With the diversity of such barriers, they all gather around one goal, which is humiliating Palestinians by making them wait for long hours. On the barrier, the soldier deals moodily in opening or closing it, forcing Palestinians to go through bypass roads on their feet to reach their destinations. These roads cannot be passed by children, old people or people with special needs. Therefore, the educational process is obstructed because students and teachers come late to their schools. Moreover; it caused the delay of ambulance arrival, resulting in the birth of a large number of women on barriers. In addition, families were prevented from exchanging visits, even at holidays and events, worshippers are also unable to reach mosques, and citizens are prevented from expressing their anger, otherwise they will be severely beaten, dismissed, arrested, shot and physically killed.

Such measures are only means of wasting time, making Palestinians hesitated for any movement amongst their country's governorates. This has led workers to prefer to work inside the occupied Palestinian territories rather than working in the West Bank. That led to economic marginalization of the West Bank and escape of workers, due to the temptation of higher wages at home.

Economically, Palestinians lost approximately 60 million work hours annually, equivalent to $274 million annually because of the long waiting on barriers. Vehicles lost about 80 million liters at a cost of $135 million. Air and environmental pollution were exacerbated by the emission of 196 thousand tons of cars per year on only 15 major military barriers in the West Bank and this killed biodiversity in the natural environment.

A new step sought by the occupation country is placing biometric technology on barriers. It is only a means of beautifying the abhorrent occupation and concealing it so a Palestinian deals with a machine or computer to decide entering or not without the appearance of any Israeli soldier. This means it is in the process of converting West Bank barriers to crossings according to the international coteries, enabling the occupation to reduce the manifestations of occupation and mitigate international criticism.

Finally, in accordance with international law, Israel, as an occupying country, is obliged to facilitate the freedom of movement of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory, as confirmed by the International Court of Justice. Israel continues to use barriers as a means of collective punishment to break the Palestinians' will, meaning that it violates the international norms and laws in order to protect settlers. Despite what is done on Israeli barriers, the Palestinian people are still steadfast on their land.