Around a third of the entire West Bank is closed to Palestinians as Israeli military zones, according to a new report.
“Walled Garden – Declaration of Closed Areas in the West Bank” is published by Israeli non-profit NGO Kerem Navot, and authored by long-time activist and settlements monitor Dror Etkes.
The report, now available here on Middle East Monitor, reveals the ways in which the Israeli authorities have designated more than 1.7 million dunams as closed military zones.
Although Israel’s policies are carried out in the name of ‘security’, the land closure mechanisms are being used to advance the colonisation of the West Bank. For example, 78 percent of the land closed for military manoeuvres is not being used for that purpose.
Furthermore, the Israeli military has declared all the settlement jurisdictions to be military zones closed to Palestinians, an area of around 540,000 dunams, or 9.7 percent of the West Bank.
