13.03.2006

HaMoked petitions the HCJ against the sweeping restrictions on movement between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip: severing Gaza from the West Bank violates human rights and the fabric of civilian life, and constitutes an irrevocable transformation of the status of the Occupied Territories and as such contravenes international law

On March 13, 2006, HaMoked petitioned against the sweeping restrictions on movement between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The petition demands that even without "exceptional humanitarian circumstances", the state allow travel of those who are not under a security travel ban. The petition contends that the restriction of movement in all but a few exceptional humanitarian instances constitutes a disproportionate violation of human dignity and freedom, as well as other human rights the realization of which depends on freedom of movement.   
 
The petition reviews the harsh movement restrictions imposed in the course of the second intifada, and intensified since July 2005. According to figures supplied by the military, normally, some 200 people are permitted to pass through in humanitarian cases, and the number dwindles to just a few dozens during closure. Based on these figures, HaMoked concludes that human rights are not factored in whatsoever, and that the state has effectively stopped respecting freedom of movement between the two parts of the Occupied Territories.

HaMoked reasserts in that the Gaza Strip and the West Bank constitute a single territorial unit, and that Palestinians have the right to freely move in between – which is equivalent to a person's right to move unrestricted in his own country. The petition also argues that so long as Israel holds on to the powers to dictate who is permitted to travel, it is obligated to respect human rights and maintain the fabric of civilian life. Finally, HaMoked argues that the de facto severing of the West Bank from the Gaza Strip constitutes an irrevocable transformation of the status of the Occupied Territories, which is prohibited under international law.