The Israeli occupation authorities have imposed a new restriction on Beit Iksa and Nabi Samuil villages, and the Al-Khalayleh neighborhood, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem.

As per the new restriction which came into effect on Saturday, September 20, the residents of the affected areas were given permits with a label saying: “authorized to enter Israel”.

The move has been considered as a de facto annexation because it removed the communities from the Palestinian administrative registry, placing them under direct Israeli control instead.

Although these communities are classified within Areas “B” and “C” under the Oslo Accords, which means they should be administratively managed by the Palestinian Authority, Israel has imposed its sovereignty over them with its new restriction.

The arbitrary measure has further deepened the isolation of the three communities, which have, for over one decade, been isolated and enclosed between the apartheid wall from one side, and military checkpoints from the other.

The three communities are now under the “seam zone”

According to the head of Beit Iksa’s council, Murad Zayed, the Israeli “Civil Administration” informed the local council in the village and those in Nabi Samuil and Al-Khalayleh neighborhood that the three areas will become part of what Israel calls the “seam zones”.

The “seam zones” represent sections of Palestinian lands located in the occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) between the apartheid wall, which Israel started to construct in 2002, and the 1949 Armistice Line ( also known as the Green Line) that separates Palestinian territories under Israeli control from Palestinian territories in the occupied West Bank, and the besieged Gaza Strip.

As a result, the residents of the three communities will be required to obtain magnetic cards and special permits from the Israeli-controlled Qalandiya checkpoint.

The Palestinian residents of these communities will have to show their special permits for overnight stays and entry to their areas, or will be denied access otherwise.

Residents say the new, stifling measure is yet another example of how Israel has turned the occupied West Bank into an open-air prison. This, in turn, foreshadows a critical escalation that could push Palestinians living there to the brink.

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