PALESTINE

Mon 09 Sep 2024 9:18 pm - Jerusalem Time

Ben Gvir proposes restricting Palestinian movement on West Bank roads

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has proposed limiting Palestinian movement on roads in the occupied West Bank.


This came during the meeting of the Security Cabinet on Sunday evening, which discussed the increasing tensions in the West Bank, according to what was reported by the Hebrew newspaper Maariv on Monday.


Ben Gvir suggested that Palestinians only move on the roads in Areas A and B, and not move at all in Area C, according to the same source.


The Oslo II Agreement of 1995 classified the West Bank into three areas: “A”, which is supposed to be under full Palestinian control, and is estimated at about 21 percent of the total area of the West Bank, and “B”, which is subject to Israeli security control and Palestinian civil and administrative control, and is estimated at about 18 percent of the area of the West Bank.


Area C is under Israeli civil, administrative and security control and is estimated at about 61 percent. Palestinians are prohibited from making any changes or building there except with an official Israeli permit.


The newspaper quoted Ben Gvir as saying during the meeting: "The settlers on the roads have become like ducks in a shooting range."


He added that "the settlers' right to life exceeds the freedom of movement of residents of areas under the Palestinian Authority."


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the army to consider Ben Gvir's request, according to the same source.


Last week, Ben-Gvir asked Netanyahu to “include the defeat of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria (the biblical name for the West Bank) among the war’s objectives,” according to Maariv.


In parallel with its war on Gaza, the Israeli army expanded its operations and the settlers escalated their attacks in the West Bank, resulting in the martyrdom of 692 Palestinians and the injury of about 5,700, in addition to the detainees, according to official Palestinian institutions.


With full American support, Israel waged a devastating war on Gaza, resulting in more than 135,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of dozens, in one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

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Ben Gvir proposes restricting Palestinian movement on West Bank roads