Hundreds of checkpoints, some that seem to be permanent fixtures and others referred to as "flying", break the contiguity of the West Bank.
For a Palestinian to travel from one town to the next often requires a lengthy and humiliating procedure that includes asking the permission of Israeli forces to go to work and school, or to see family members or friends.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights described on Wednesday the treatment of Palestinians by the occupying forces at checkpoints as "cruel and degrading."
PCHR fieldworkers researched three cases of residents of the southern West Bank's Hebron this week that the organization says contradict the Convention against Torture and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment of 1984.
On Saturday of this week Tha'er Bader Jaradat was attacked by Israeli soldiers in northeastern Jerusalem's Al Ram, a city near the Qalandiya Checkpoint to Ramallah. He was with other citizens who are no longer able to reach services and jobs due to the Wall. There is a gap that allows for tens of people a day to pass through. On August eighth, however, Israeli soldiers were there.
They forced 20 year old Jaradat to jump from a height of four and a half meters where he fell and sustained two fractures to the left leg and one fracture to the right heel. Soldiers then surrounded the young man and attempted to force him to stand. When he could not, they released a dog to attack. Jaradat remained on the ground and was then forced to crawl 15 meters to a military jeep where he was handcuffed and taken to the Hamashbir area, northwest of Al Ram.
Jaradat is from northwestern Hebron's Sa'ir Village. He was trying to enter Jerusalem to go to his work at a boutique.
On Sunday of this week Israeli soldiers occupying the Al Zahiriya - Bir Al Saba' Road in southern Hebron harassed a 26 year old, reports PCHR. Mohammed ‘Abdul Hai ‘Asafra, from northwestern Hebron's Beit Kahel Village, was stopped by Israeli forces while he was on his way to his job in an area workshop. The soldiers "detained and violently beat him for more than two hours", the well-respected human rights organization reported today. ‘Asafra sustained bruises throughout his body.
In another checkpoint incident this week, on Monday at approximately 11:30 am Israeli soldiers stopped Saleh Mohammed Al Rajabi. The 20 year old was in the Old City of Hebron on Al Sahla and Tariq Ben Ziad streets. PHCR reports, "They detained and violently beat him for nearly an hour. He sustained bruises throughout the body."
The Israelis are violating international laws and treaties, the PCHR points out. And because of that, the organization added today, the international community must be compelled to pressure the occupying Israeli administration to dismantle military checkpoints and stop harassment and human rights violations in the West Bank.
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