A report prepared and published by the Human Rights group in Israel slammed the military checkpoints in the Palestinian areas, saying that it paralyzes the lives of million people on daily basis.
The Israeli army, and since November 2004, only removed four checkpoints of 61 in the West Bank, and 70 of 680 smaller checkpoints, the Israeli Machsom Watch organization reported during a pres conference on Thursday.
The human Rights organization in Israel consists of women who volunteer in order to monitor the conducts of soldiers on military checkpoints and roadblocks, in an attempt to prevent abuse and assist the Palestinian civilians.
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Also, the organization called for the removal of all West Bank roadblocks, “let the Palestinians live, we call for the removal of all West Bank checkpoints, so they won’t be our enemies”.
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Machsom Watch group, which has been monitoring the Israeli checkpoints for four and a half years, discovered and reported that the ‘situation is only deteriorating”.
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Also, the report slams the settlers and the special treatments they receive on the expense of the Palestinians, since settlers have free and fast passage, while the Palestinians have to wait for several hours.
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“There are apartheid roads, only settlers can travel on, we even observed several cases where settlers help soldiers run the roadblocks,” the group said.
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The report also slammed the so called “Civil administration offices, which are run by Israeli soldiers and officers, “nobody knows what the procedures are and what laws should be followed”, the group said.
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“Dozens of residents have to stand in line for several hours, without a bathroom, or a roof over their head, in winter or summer, just waiting their to be called to see an official, the soldiers are ‘protected’ in rooms with reinforced glass, there is no contact with the human soldiers, you need to yell in order to talk to them”.
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The Israeli army, responded to the report by saying that “monitoring points” and checkpoints all over the Palestinian areas “are needed to counter terror”, according to the army report.
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Also, the army rejected the figures presented by Machsom Watch and claimed that the number of checkpoint decreased by more than 50%, and that the Civil Administration offices work 24 hours a day.
