Israel chokes West Bank with nearly 1,000 new barriers, paralyzing Palestinian life – NaturalNews.com

• Israel has erected 916 new barriers in the West Bank since October 2023.
• These barriers systematically sever Palestinian towns and cripple daily life.
• Simple journeys now take hours due to unpredictable gate closures.
• This control is compounded by violent settler attacks and military raids.
• The strategy aims to fragment the territory and erase Palestinian freedom.

In a dramatic escalation of its decades-long occupation, Israel has erected 916 new barriers, gates, and walls across the occupied West Bank since October 7, 2023, systematically strangling Palestinian movement and livelihoods.

According to the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, this unprecedented network of obstructions, often manned by Israeli soldiers, controls the movement of three million Palestinians, forcing them into lengthy detours and cutting them off from jobs, education, and healthcare. This calculated infrastructure of control coincides with a surge in violent settler attacks and aggressive military raids, painting a clear picture of an intensifying campaign to dominate the territory.

The United Nations documented the installation of 18 new gates in just the first two weeks of September alone. These barriers, combined with concrete blocks and large earth mounds placed directly in roadways, are not temporary security measures but permanent fixtures of a deepening occupation. They are strategically placed at town entrances and between cities, effectively carving the West Bank into disconnected cantons.

For Palestinians, daily life has become a logistical nightmare. A simple 20-minute journey now frequently takes longer than an hour as residents are forced onto long, circuitous detours. The gates operate on erratic and unpredictable schedules, with some remaining closed for days at a time. This has severed economic and social ties, pushing communities toward collapse.

Residents report devastating personal consequences. In the village of Aboud, gates are closed daily from 6:00 am to 9:00 am, deliberately preventing students from reaching universities and workers from their jobs. Ezzedine Al-Sayouri from Deir Dibwan village described the totality of the isolation, stating, “Under the current circumstances, everything has been cut off. Everything has stopped.” His gym business is failing as people cannot reach it.

A strategy of collective punishment

The Israeli military claims these barriers are merely to “manage and monitor” movement in a “complex security reality.” But for those living under this regime, the intent is clear. Mohammad Shalatweh, a taxi driver, identified it as part of the “occupation’s strategy to undermine people’s sense of security.” The physical barriers create a constant state of uncertainty and fear, with families never sure if loved ones will be able to return home. Eyad Jameel, a restaurant owner in Sinjil, said of the gates, “They don’t always open them; they just close them and trap everyone.”

This architectural oppression is compounded by a parallel surge in state-backed settler violence. Palestinian olive harvesters, the backbone of many rural economies, are being systematically targeted. In recent weeks, harvesters in Kafr Thulth were attacked by settlers, while shepherds had their goats killed. Farmers in Farata were shot at with live ammunition. The Israeli military has actively participated in this campaign by uprooting thousands of olive trees in villages like Al-Mughayyir.

Military raids and mass displacement

Simultaneously, Israel has intensified its military operations. A massive operation launched in January in the cities of Tulkarem and Jenin has displaced tens of thousands of civilians and destroyed vast amounts of civilian infrastructure. Residents have not been permitted to return to their demolished neighborhoods. The campaign of targeted assassinations continues, with Israeli forces killing three Palestinians near Jenin in a single day, a tactic that further fuels the cycle of violence.

The overarching goal is undeniable. The systematic installation of nearly a thousand barriers, the escalation of settler violence, and the destructive military raids are not isolated incidents. They are coordinated components of a long-term strategy to seize full control of the West Bank. This is a laboratory of oppression where the freedoms of an entire population are being methodically erased.

The West Bank is being transformed into a fragmented territory where freedom of movement is a distant memory and economic life is deliberately suffocated. For the three million Palestinians living there, the message is clear: their land is being taken, their future is being constrained, and their daily reality is one of controlled despair. The nearly 1,000 new barriers are not just metal and concrete; they are the physical manifestation of an occupation entering its most brutal and definitive phase.

Sources for this article include:

TheCradle.co

APNews.com

Reuters.com