A report prepared by the Israeli Human Rights Group Betselem and published Monday concluded that Israeli restrictions made it almost impossible for Palestinian to use regular West bank roads.
According to the group’s research findings, Palestinians are totally banned from traveling on certain roads, partially banned from using others, and searched for long hours when using the rest. Palestinians are forced to use unpaved country roads to travel from one place to another in the West bank.
The report accused Israel with applying an apartheid policy, similar to the one used by former Apartheid government of South Africa.
The report expressed a great level of understanding to Israel’s security needs, but noted that means used are contrary to both the Israeli law and the International one.
Betselem’s report points to the strong relation between settlements and both the construction of roads and the restrictions imposed on Palestinians. “one can rarely find a road in the West Bank that is not tightly linked to settlers’ needs†the report stated.
The report notes that while almost all the land used to construct roads were expropriated from Palestinian residents, most of them were expropriated for security and military purposes, but constructed to benefit West bank settlers.
