PHOTOS: Palestinians hold pray-in to protest road closures

By Activestills September 25, 2016 | Edit

Palestinian residents of a village cut off by Israeli military closures hold prayer services at the roadblock to protest.

Photos and text : Ahmad Al-Bazz / Activestills

Palestinians from the village of Beita hold Friday prayers at an Israeli military roadblock in protest of the collective punishment, September 23, 2016. (Ahmad Al-Bazz / Activestills.org)

Tens of Palestinian residents of the village of Betia, south of Nablus, moved their Friday noon prayer from mosques to in front of Israeli dirt mounds that block the main entrance of their town, to protest an Israeli closure that was in its fifth day. The Israeli military roadblocks are unmanned, and entirely block Palestinian residents from using their vehicles on the main roads leading in and out of their villages.

Palestinian protesters condemned what they consider to be collective punishment and called on Israel to re-open the main entrance of their village, a road that serves tens of thousands of Palestinians who travel on it to and from their homes.

The road, which connects several Palestinian villages and town, leads to Road 60, a major Israeli-controlled highway that serves as an artery connecting the northern and southern West Bank.

An Israeli military spokesperson told Ma’an that the road was closed following numerous incidents of Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli settler vehicles. He could not immediately specify whether any Israelis had been injured in stone-throwing incidents in the area recently.

It is worth mentioning that access road to Beita, in addition to six other Palestinian roads, was blocked in the beginning of September for about a week, before they were reopened again for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

It is quite common for the Israeli military to block and shut down Palestinian roads in the West Bank. Usually, Israeli explains such steps as being necessitated by “security reasons” while Palestinians consider them to be collective punishment.

Palestinians from the village of Beita hold Friday prayers at an Israeli military roadblock in protest of the collective punishment, September 23, 2016. (Ahmad Al-Bazz / Activestills.org)

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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