Last update - 00:00 22/03/2007
Rights group: IDF illegally blocking Palestinians from Route 60
By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel is calling on the Defense Ministry to examine the legality of preventing Palestinians from accessing Route 60, a main road in the southern Hebron Hills area of the West Bank.
In a letter it sent to Defense Minister Amir Peretz, the ACRI argues that the Israel Defense Forces is illegally blocking Palestinian access to the road, thereby seriously impairing the freedom of movement of Palestinians who live in the area and impinging upon their civil rights.
ACRI attorney Limor Yehuda said the organization wants the roadblocks removed, but barring that, would like the IDF practice to be examined from a legal perspective.
The IDF has put up steel gates, stones and dirt heaps to block 28 paths connecting 16 Palestinian villages to Route 60, the ACRI said. As a result, it said, village residents are forced to use longer paths, often making medical aid and other basic services inaccessible.
Jewish residents of the West Bank, however, are allowed to use the road.