Outcry over West Bank closure

Israel has ordered a full closure of the occupied West Bank, preventing even those few Palestinians who normally have permits to enter the Jewish state from doing so for 10 days

RAMALLAH // Like most West Bank Christians, Jumana Dabis, 23, applied early for her permit to enter Jerusalem for the Easter holidays. During such holidays, Israel makes an exception to its normally stringent closure regime and issues permits, valid for 30 to 45 days, to Palestinian Christians in a way it does not do for Muslims during Islamic holidays. But with Easter falling around the same time as the Jewish Passover holiday, Israel's permit policy becomes even more incongruous and Byzantine than usual.

Ms Dabis, a public relations officer with the Ramallah municipality, was denied a permit. No reason was given. It is perhaps one of the many small ironies of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that as Israeli Jews celebrate Passover - marking the Jewish people's delivery from slavery in Egypt - a full closure comes into force in the occupied West Bank, preventing even those few Palestinians who normally have permits to enter Jerusalem or Israel from doing so for a period of 10 days.

Even though Palestinians of the occupied territories have slowly got used to having their movement severely circumscribed, the Jewish holidays always add an extra dimension. Only those with emergency cases can seek medical treatment in Jerusalem's more advanced facilities. Only those working with international organisations can continue their daily routines. And businesses, even more than usual, feel the consequences.

Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement are one of the main obstacles to Palestinian economic growth. An economy that grew steadily from 1995 to 2000 has been in consistent decline since as a result of the tight closures Israel imposed after 2000, and every international organisation from the United Nations to the World Bank has identified an easing of such restrictions as essential for economic development.

Yet obstacles to movement in the West Bank today still number over 600, by a UN count, and movement to and from the West Bank is as difficult as it has ever been. "When the whole economy is in disarray, more closure just adds more pressure," said Basem Khoury, head of the Palestinian Federation of Industries. "Israel is imposing a religious holiday on four million Palestinians who are not of the same religion."

Mr Khoury said most Palestinian businesses are affected by the extra closure, which, he calculated, adversely impacted their overall competitiveness as measured by output versus working days by about five per cent. "Under the Paris Protocol, Israel insisted on keeping the Palestinian economy linked to the Israeli economy. But then it is not fair that Israel imposes its religious holidays on us as well," he said.

At heart, Mr Khoury said, the issue was political. Restrictions on movement, he said, had less to do with security, as Israel insists, and more to do with securing Israeli settlements in occupied territory. "Unless we can move on the issue of settlements, it becomes impossible to do anything about the closure regime. And if we can't do anything about that, it is impossible to help the economy. This is a political decision." Political too would seem the decision favouring permits for Christians over Muslims for their respective holidays.

Ms Dabis is a case in point. Having failed to get a permit through the Palestinian Authority office in Ramallah that usually co-ordinates such matters with the Israeli military, she went in person to apply for a permit at the Israeli army's district co-ordinating office at Beit El just outside Ramallah. After spending a day waiting in line she was eventually issued a 45-day permit that allows her unrestricted access to Jerusalem and Israel, though not Eilat in the south. Again no explanation was offered for this decision.

"Many times they just randomly deny permits," Ms Dabis said. "They never give reasons. If you ask, they say for security reasons, but they never elaborate and they never put anything in writing." Ms Dabis said she was aware of the fact that she eventually received a permit because of her religion. "It's very bad. I know Israel does this to try to create animosity between Muslims and Christians. Muslims are never issued permits unless for medical emergencies."

A discriminating system of permits is a tried-and-tested control mechanism, one that has been used by colonial regimes across the world. "The coloniser's gains are clear," wrote Ran Hacohen, an Israel academic in a recent essay. "Divide-and-rule; destroying national coherence in favour of separate, conflicting local interests; making the colonised too busy with survival to oppose their oppression; and so on."

Ms Dabis said she thought it was not working, that Palestinians were aware and therefore vigilant at attempts to create rifts among them. To Mr Khoury, however, the permit system has had a more debilitating effect. "People have become used to it. What's another day or another week, with all these closures." [e-mail]