The Center for the Defense of the Individual, in Israel, filed on Monday a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice, demanding the army to lift or lessen the restrictions on Palestinians wishing to travel between the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
The Center reported that Israel is not honoring the freedom of movement of the Palestinian residents between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
"Restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement between the two parts of the Palestinian Authority – the Gaza Strip and West Bank – has reached a new low after the State of Israel stopped honoring the freedom of movement between the two areas," the CDI stated in its petition to the High Court.
Also, the center stated in its petition that all travel between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip remained prohibited by military orders, and that only a few number of Palestinians have been allowed to move between the two areas since July 2005.
The center demands that all Palestinians should be allowed to travel between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, regardless of the so called “special humanitarian cases”.
The petition called on the court to rule that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are two part of one Palestinian state.
The Geneva Convention grants residents freedom of movement between different areas of the same entity.
Also, the petitioners noted that Israel recognized that Gaza Strip and the West Bank as one entity, the Palestinian Authority, after implementing the Disengagement Plan in 2005.
Yet, Israel, in other responses to the court, has repeated tried to claim a clear separation between the two areas.
The Israeli procedures are not only prohibiting the Palestinians from moving between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but are also barring the residents from the freedom of movement between several areas in the West Bank.
Travel on all roads linking the Palestinian areas is prohibited to private vehicles, only service vehicles, and a few number of traders or merchants , are allowed to move with their vehicles between the Palestinian areas.
