[Sunday January 12, 2014] Israeli forces set up a flying checkpoint, on Sunday, near the entrance of a southern West Bank village, according to a popular committee spokesman.Soldiers stopped traffic near the entrance of Beit Ummar, searching vehicles and checking ID cards, Muhammad Ayyad Awad told Ma’an News Agency.
Awad said that the checkpoint caused a traffic jam on the road which connects Hebron and Jerusalem.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the checkpoint was set up because Palestinians were hurling rocks at a settler bus earlier in the day, causing damages.
According to Ma’an, Israeli forces maintain severe restrictions on freedom of movement for Palestinians in the West Bank, through a complex combination of fixed checkpoints, flying checkpoints, roads forbidden to Palestinians but open to Jewish settlers, and various other physical obstructions.
At any given time, there are about 100 permanent Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, while surprise flying checkpoints often number into the hundreds.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories, of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part, have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
