Israel isolate Palestinian refugee camp

Israel Monday officially opened the new permanent military checkpoint outside Shu’fat refugee camp thus cutting it off from East Jerusalem, according to witnesses. Angry Palestinians from the camp and nearby areas threw rocks at the border guards manning the checkpoint, who fired back tear gas and rubber bullets at the protesters. The new checkpoint, which is more like a border crossing, replaces a smaller one Israeli authority had for years set up outside the camp on the main road linking it to Jerusalem. As a result, more than 60,000 Palestinian holders of Jerusalem residency who live in Shu’fat camp and surrounding neighbourhoods that are part of the Israeli-demarcated Jerusalem city limits, will be separated from their schools, jobs, and other daily livelihood centers in Jerusalem. Witnesses said long delays were seen at the checkpoint due to slow Israeli inspection process as students and employees were trying to get to their work in the city centre. They said children were forced off buses to go through body and paper checks in the checkpoint terminal, which created long lines of people and delays in getting to school or work. Official and local groups warned that the new checkpoint comes in line with an Israeli policy that aims to reduce the number of Palestinians living within Jerusalem by separating them by a network of checkpoints and an 8-metre high concrete wall from the center of the city. Similar checkpoints are found at Qalandia, Hizma, Al-Tur, Bethlehem and Beit Jala. Israel’s policy is to reduce the number of Palestinians in Jerusalem from its current 35 per cent of the total population of both occupied East and Israeli West Jerusalem to only 10 per cent, according to Palestinian experts. The opening of the new checkpoint was originally scheduled for Sunday but was delayed due to violent clashes that have been taking place nearby between Israeli forces and Palestinians who were demonstrating against the new segregation measure.