since 2003, Israel has forcibly removed Palestinians living and working in the
West Bank to the Gaza Strip because their registered addresses were there.66
In addition, numerous measures are in place in the West Bank, including East
Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip that seriously hinder the right of Palestinians
to use and access lands, whilst also limiting the access to other resources
such as water, minerals from the Dead Sea, and fisheries off the coast of
the Gaza Strip. Such limitations usually come in the form of Israeli military
orders that designate various parcels of land as closed military zones, nature
reserves, national parks, Seam Zones,67 or for the route of the Annexation
and Segregation Wall, for instance. In designating a closed military zone, the
local Military Commander applies Military Order 1651 which allows for the
allocation of certain lands for “training” and “firing” purposes on the basis of
“military necessity”.68
ID Cards
Palestinians living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip are
required to hold an Israeli-administered ID card, which they must show when they want
to travel within the oPt or outside of the oPt to cross any of the many military checkpoints,
even if they want to go to school, hospitals, to visit family or to work.69 However, in order to
obtain such an ID card, a Palestinian must be registered in the Israeli controlled population
registry, as the information from that registry is used in the ID card.70 This means, that
Israel has made it impossible for Palestinians to obtain an ID card if they are not included
in the Israeli controlled population registry.
Restrictions on the Right to Freedom of Movement within the
West Bank including Jerusalem
Following the 1995 Oslo II Accords, the West Bank was divided into areas
A, B and C. The three administrative areas correlate to about 17 percent,
23 percent and 60 percent of West Bank territory. Areas A and B, consisting
66 Human Rights Watch, “’Forget About Him, He’s Not Here’: Israel’s Control of Palestinian Residency
in the West Bank and Gaza”, February 2012, page 28. Available at: www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/
reports/iopt0212webwcover.pdf
67 Seam Zones are areas that fall between the Green Line (1949 Armistice Line) and the Israeli Annexation
and Segregation Wall, in itself held by the International Court of Justice to be illegal.
68 Ma’an Development Center, “Moving Nowhere: Firing Zones and Forcible Transfer in the Jordan
Valley”, 2015. Available at: http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/movingnowhere-firing-zones-and-forcible-transfer-jordan
69 Human Rights Watch, “’Forget About Him, He’s Not Here’: Israel’s Control of Palestinian Residency
in the West Bank and Gaza”, February 2012, page 3. Available at: www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/
reports/iopt0212webwcover.pdf
70 Ibid.
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