On the Agenda

Every day and every night, soldiers may enter Palestinian homes. Such invasions of private space have long been an integral part of security forces’ operations in the West Bank. Palestinians know that soldiers may enter their homes at will, invade their bedrooms, wake their children and rummage through their belongings. For most of us, the home is a safe space. This is not so for Palestinians. Control, humiliation, and oppression penetrate their homes. In recent weeks, we published descriptions of incursions into homes in Ramallah, Qalqiliyah, and Tulkarm Districts. Below are descriptions of several raids on homes in Hebron District during these months.

Every day and every night, soldiers may enter Palestinian homes. Such invasions of private space have long been an integral part of security forces’ operations in the West Bank. Palestinians know that soldiers may enter their homes at will, invade their bedrooms, wake their children and rummage through their belongings. For most of us, the home is a safe space. This is not so for Palestinians. Control, humiliation, and oppression penetrate their homes. Throughout October and November 2020, Israeli security forces entered 493 homes in the West Bank. Read descriptions of two such incursions, one in Tulkarm District and the other in Qalqiliyah District.

Tens of thousands of West Bank Palestinians enter Israel every day for work without a permit. The state is well aware of this reality, as it serves its interests by guaranteeing cheap, disempowered labor. The military occasionally deploys soldiers who lay in wait and fire at workers trying to enter Israel through gaps in the Separation Barrier. On three occasions in January and February. 2021, soldiers fired at workers passing through gaps in the barrier in the Far’on and Barta’ah a-Sharqiyah area, injuring 12, including a 16-year-old.

The report issued today by B’Tselem and Kerem Navot exposes the mechanisms Israel uses to encourage its citizens to move into the occupied territory. The report also reviews developments on the ground over the last decade, focusing on the spatial impact of the two large settlement blocs.  

As part of the apartheid regime it implements between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, Israel imposes extreme restrictions on the movement of Palestinians between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This prevents thousands of families in which one spouse is a resident of Gaza and the other a resident of the West Bank from maintaining a family life. They face an impossible choice: live together in Gaza and be cut off from the rest of the family in the West Bank, or live apart. Raising a family, living with one’s partner and children and maintaining contact with close relatives are the most elementary and fundamental human relationships, yet they become unattainable for Palestinians.

Every day and every night, soldiers may enter Palestinian homes. Such invasions of private space have long been an integral part of security forces’ operations in the West Bank. Palestinians know that soldiers may enter their homes at will, invade their bedrooms, wake their children and rummage through their belongings. For most of us, the home is a safe space. This is not so for Palestinians. Control, humiliation, and oppression penetrate their homes. In the coming days, we will present cases that occurred throughout November and October 2020. Read the first of them, in the village of Kobar, Ramallah district.

On Monday morning, 17 December 2020, Border Police and Special Patrol Unit forces entered Qalandiya Refugee Camp. About 10 officers entered one of the camp’s homes, attacking a 15-year-old, locking his family members in rooms, violently searching the house, and leaving as they arrested two sons. During clashes that broke out in the camp, police snipers opened wanton fire, injuring five. In this case, as in hundreds of others, no one will be held accountable for the violence meted against the family or the shooting.