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Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT, CURFEWS, CHECKPOINTS, MASS ROUND-UPS AND CLOSURES

The imposition of collective punishments for the alleged offense of an individual Palestinian Arab is a common tactic of the Israeli regime. All forms of collective punishment are in violation of international criminal law and constitute crimes against humanity. No individual should ever be punished for the acts of another. This is an accepted principle in all civilized societies. Protected by propaganda which claims that Israel is a "democratic" society, Israel freely makes use of many of the barbarisms practiced by the Nazis against Jews and non-Jews during their occupation of Europe in World War II.

Collective punishment in the form of curfews, checkpoints, mass round-ups and closures is part and parcel of Israeli plans to destroy normal life among the Palestinian Arabs so that they will leave their homeland in order to escape from Zionist rule.

In times of war or riot a temporary curfew may be imposed to restore order, but never for punitive reasons. The curfew in such cases is intended to protect everyone. But Israel uses the curfew as a form of collective punishment, not to cool tempers but to subject the Palestinians to further harassment and humiliation.

Israel's abuse of curfews is clearly proved by its abuse of other alleged emergency procedures such as checkpoints, mass round-ups and closures.

Checkpoints or roadblocks are regularly set up in various parts of the occupied territories. The stated reasons vary, but they are usually related to "security." They become more numerous following security-related incidents, but often they seem to be erected only to offer new troops experience in this degrading procedure. In general, only cars with West Bank and Gaza Strip license-plates are stopped. Identity cards of all passengers are checked and the car and its passengers may be subjected to searches.

As noted in the Bir Zeit University report for the 1985-86 academic year, such checkpoints become a way of closing the universities without aformal closure order, since students and faculty experience long delays on their way to the campus or are turned back. In one academic year, Bir Zeit University alone was subject to thirty six de facto closures from such checkpoints.

In some cases, the checkpoints are used to enforce prohibition of the import of West Bank and Gaza agricultural produce to Israel. Security checks around market areas can also drastically interfere with regular economic activity. An extreme case is that of the Daboyya Building in Hebron. After apartments were built for Jewish settlers above the Palestinian shops, the shopkeepers were pressured into evacuating the building, but refused. The army therefore erected a fence around the building with stringent security checks (including body searches) of shop clientele. In some cases, identity cards were ripped up or confiscated, thus making it impossible for the persons to work in their regular jobs outside the town. Business dropped off drastically. Three of the shopkeepers petitioned to the High Court, but lost their appeal. The court ruled that the fence and security checks were necessary to prevent the planting of bombs in the shops and that the shopkeepers could receive compensation for lost business. The security fence has been in place for 2 years.

Another danger of checkpoints is the potential loss of life. Killings and injuries have taken place at checkpoints, and the practice continues, with 2 killings in 1987. Eyewitnesses report that such killings are arbitrary and unprovoked. (1)

Following are detailed examples of the humiliation, abasement and inhuman treatment to which the Israelis subject Palestinian Arabs at checkpoints:

INHUMAN TREATMENT AT CHECKPOINTS

Palestinians are forced to show their identity cards at checkpoints. Soldiers usually curse, beat, insult and humiliate Palestinians, whether they are men, women, or children, just because they are Palestinians. An Israeli woman soldier wrote a letter to the Hebrew language newspaper Ha'aretz and described the inhuman practices against Palestinians at checkpoints. Amnon Rubenstein, an Israeli journalist, wrote an article in the same paper of September 8, 1981, in which he stated:

The abasement of Arabs in the territories has turned into a routine. It is up to the Defense Minister to fulfill his promise and put an end to it. Last Friday the letter of Oran Rinat was published in Ha'aretz, and it is suitable to express an opinion on it. The writer served in the Army as a soldier in the Women's Civil Defense Corps., and she testifies to the treatment by the men in the border guards, and the men and women soldiers in civil defense, of Arabs from the occupied territories in a single, small encounter - at roadblocks intended to serve a security purpose solely. In the eyes of those responsible for the roadblocks, the Arabs are not consideredpeople, "but some type of inferior creatures, devoid of real rights so that you are allowed to behave with them according to whim, and there is no court and no judge."

She relates the daily humiliation: curses and abuses; Arab businessmen forced to stand for five and more hours in the sun as punishment for having a dirty I.D.; soldiers screaming in hysteria at adult Arabs andcommanding them to "shut their mouths." She speaks about the answer of the abased: they fear to answer, because if they open their mouths, it will serve as a pretext for shouts and sometimes even for blows.

The things about which Oma Rinat wrote, just like the things which Attallah Mansour heard on his visit to the West Bank that he reported two weeks ago, are not new for someone who follows what goes on regarding the behavior of the authorities toward the Arabs of the occupied territories. Even the answer is known: "Hatred is rising, inverted, waiting to burst."

These improprieties are not directed against terrorists and collaborators who should be dealt with forcefully, of course; they are directed against Arabs because they are Arabs. (2)

ASSAULTING AND HUMILIATING PALESTINIANS CROSSING ALLENBY BRIDGE BETWEEN JORDAN AND THE WEST BANK

Over a million trips are made annually by local residents, visitors and tourists through the Allenby or Damia bridges which connect the West Bank and Jordan. But for three weeks in May - when visitors enter the West Bank - and again "in late August, when they rush to return to school or jobs outside the bridge, there are bottlenecks. flooded with people waiting for their turn to cross."

Israeli military authorities allow vehicles to enter the sealed border from 7.30 a.m. until 1.30 p.m. Vehicles that do not enter by that time are returned. They begin to trek to the Allenby or Damia bridges at 2.00, a.m. during the peak seasons, when families, including young children and the elderly, must wait in sun-scorched cars for 5 to 8 hours. When travellers are finally admitted into the Israeli border buildings, their luggage is hauled away and jewelry declared. Duty must be paid for gold or jewels not claimed on entry. For traditional Arab women, who wear their personal and family wealth in gold necklaces, bracelets, rings and coins, losing the custom registry can mean being forced to pay enormous fees.

Security: After minimal procedures on the Jordanian side, travellers stuffed into buses disembark in front of the Israeli border building where one by one men get frisked by male soldiers and women by women soldiers. After their initial check-in, luggage goes through a cursory check by soldiers. Travellers are frisked again as they enter the border building. They are made to hand over their money to an Israeli soldier who returns it in a sealed, clear plastic bag. Travellers who are West Bank or Gaza residents must wait from one to three hours for their name to be called, when they can move into another waiting room.

With cattle-car impersonality, every Arab who makes the bridge trip must take off his shoes and add them to a bin of tens of others. His shoes are taken to be x-rayed while travellers wait their turn for the real search.

Strip: When aperson's turn comes up he or she is taken by a soldier into a booth and forced to strip. Considered to be the most demeaning of the many bridge experiences, the soldier, "doing his job," runs a metal detector machine over the limp clothes and then over every crevice of the nuked body. Then the traveller is allowed to dress and sign a paper saying that he was searched. The paper is written in both Arabic and Hebrew. On the front, only in Hebrew. The back side of the paper seems to be designed for intelligence interrogators. If the back is marked in a certain box the traveller must go to either room 12 or 1 3, where he is questioned for anywhere between two minutes and two hours.

When the traveller is dressed he moves into a huge room where his luggage is to be searched. Every single item that belongs to the traveller is checked from the inside, outside, and from top to bottom. Clothes are put into plastic bags and the empty suitcases are x-rayed. Huge custom fees are charged for extras. Cassette tapes, newspapers, magazines, electrical apparatus, metal hairpicks, wooden kitchen equipment, wooden tennis rackets, medicine, toiletry, pens and food are contraband according to the Israeli officers who expropriate and destroy such things. Travellers can, if they insist, obtain a paper listing the items that were taken on the basis of "security reasons" for their expropriation and destruction. Travellers are allowed to bring into the West Bank only one pair of shoes - all "extras" are confiscated. The rest of the clothes are dumped into carts for closer examination.

After leaving the border IDS and luggage are checked at least three times on the way to Jerusalem.

The temporary humiliation of Palestinian Arab men and women at checkpoints is a degradation that no human being should be made to suffer. But the Israelis do not limit themselves to that abuse. That they try to destroy Arab shopkeepers' business through the imposition of acheckpoint surrounding his store shows that their real purpose is to drive them from their native land, not for alleged "security" purposes.

Perhaps most ominous is the fact that the Israelis create many checkpoints for the sole purpose of giving draftees experience in the inhuman behavior the Israelis use in their checkpoint procedures. What in a normal, sane society would be a limited function for police and military police, in the Israeli regime appears to be prescribed behavior for all Jews, indicating plans for a future mass expulsion of the remaining Palestinian Arabs from their ancestral homeland.

The impression that the underlying purpose for Israeli-imposed checkpoints is really preparation for mass expulsion is fortified by the Israeli practice of mass round-ups.

The mass round-up is used in the context of night houseto- house searches of a refugee camp or village and often in conjunction with a curfew. Typically, all the men and young boys in the vicinity are gathered into a central area. body-searched, humiliated, often beaten and made to stand in the cold for long periods, perhaps blindfolded or with their hands held over their heads. Typically, large numbers are taken into detention and interrogation. The majority are released before the end of the 18 day period, when they must be brought to court or released. No exact figure of the numbers detained in this fashion is available, but estimates are many thousands per year. The French Press Agency reported that in 1984, for example, 471 Palestinians were detained for 18 days or more, and released without charge or conviction. The vast majority of detainees are released before the 18 day period has ended, howwever. (3)

That the majority of Palestinians picked up by the Israelis in mass round-ups are released without charges being filed indicates that the purpose of the mass round-ups is to prepare for isolating Palestinian Arab males to facilitate future plans for evacuating the entire non-Jewish population from Palestine. Closure procedures directed against Palestinian Arab businesses, civic institutions and educational institutions provide further indication of Israeli plans to destroy normal life among Palestinian Arabs in preparation for their future mass expulsion.

Temporary business closures often accompany curfews and may extend beyond a general curfew for the area. The practice is often designed to extract information about "suspects" from store owners who were working near the site of an incident. In the five-year period, 1982-1986, 425 businesses were reported to be affected by such closures. The length of time of the closure varied, from a few days to two months. Twenty-nine shops were subjected to 2-month closures. Needless to say, such closures adversely affect economic activity of businesses already subjected to unfair competition from Israeli businesses, and victim to other occupation pressures.

Public institutions are subject to temporary closures, under a variety of "security" pretexts. Press offices and newspapers are particularly vulnerable to this practice, together with distribution bans, for alleged censorship violations or possession of banned materials. This is in addition to permanent closure of newspapers, including 4 during the five-year period.

Labor union offices are also closed permanently or temporarily, for alleged "security violations," such as possession of banned material, holding of '"illegal" meetings, or engagement in political activities. Many other public institutions, including those in East Jerusalem (formally under Israeli law), have been closed to prevent meetings or to halt meetings in progress. The Hakawati Theatre in Jerusalem has been subject to several 24 hour closures for such reasons.

Youth clubs constitute another vulnerable public institution. Several refugee youth clubs, which often offer the only extracurricular activity for camp youth, have been closed temporarily or permanently. The High Court has upheld the closures on "security7' grounds. Examples include the Thori Youth club (closed for six months), Balata Refugee Camp Youth Club (closed since May 1982), Dheisheh Refugee Camp Club (closed for 9 months in 1985), the Orthodox Beit Jala Club (closed for 2 months in 19821, the Ayda Refugee Camp Youth Club (closed for one month in 1986). (4)

The Israelis utilize alleged "emergency procedures" to impede the education of the Palestinian Arab youth.

Since youth are active in expressing their opposition to the occupation in various ways, the authorities often target elementary and secondary schools for temporary closures. Twenty-six closures were reported in the 5-year period, for periods ranging from 1 day to 30 days. The authorities often charge that youth were demonstrating or throwing stones. In addition to closures of the entire school, military troops often enter the schools, damage property and arrest selected students. On some occasions, teachers and principals have been detained and ordered to exercise more control over their students.

Closures of universities have been well documented. Bir Zeit University was closed 5 times, for a total of 12 months, between 1982 and 1985. Bethlehem University was closed 8 times, for a total loss of over 10 months in the same period. Hebron University was closed once for 2 months, and the Polytechnic College for one and a half months. In addition to these formal closures, all universities have suffered from de facto closures due to checkpoints, as noted earlier. (5)

When Palestinian schools are not closed, the educational process is often deliberately interrupted by the authorities. An Israeli soldier provided some insight into this behavior when he confided to the Israeli publication Israeleft what Israeli soldiers have done to Palestinian teachers and students. He stated:

I remember how they used to call us in every time there were problems in a school. We had these thin strong clubs, and we used to force our way into the school yards and all the teachers and pupils would run into the classrooms. Then we'd chase them and hit them. Our commander would come into the classroom and ask: "Who's the teacher here?'The teacher would step out and he would smash his face in and kick him and yell, "Everybody get out of here and go home." And then all the pupils would bunch up scared near the door and we'd line up in the corridor and everyone that came out would be beaten up.

After a few things like this there were no more problems in any of the schools. Everything was quiet and we were sure we'd done what we were supposed to do. Don't forget it was only a year, a year and a half after the Six Day War, and what we did in Gaza didn't look like much after what we'd seen in the war. Maybe there were other reasons, I'm not sure, but it really did look different.

Now it has changed. We get the same thing - school problems. They stand around in the school yard and sing their songs and yell "Palestine." And now we first have to phone the principal and warn him that if they don't stop singing we'll have to go in and stop them ourselves. Every time I go into a school 1 pray the pupils won't throw stones. Because if they do, it can begin a whole story of shooting and wounding and investigation.

The soldier describes further what Swissa, a religious Jewish soldier, did to an Arab boy 14 years old.

Look what he did yesterday. We were standing at the roadblock and a kid comes up, riding a bicycle. What did he do wrong? He didn't pass between the rows of nails on the roadblock, and rode on the sidewalk instead. Swissa pushes him off his bike andsays: "Where's your ID?" The kidreplies, "I don't have one. I'm only 14." Swissa says, "No, you're sixteen. Let's have your card." The kid begins to beg him, then cries, but nothing helps. Swissa says, "leave your bike here and go get your birth certificate from home so we can see how old you are." I didn't want to interfere, maybe 1 was wrong, but I felt we shouldn't argue among ourselves in front of him. Later 1 did ask him, "Why did you do that, Swissa?' He didn'treply. He just made a motion with his hand, "Damn them.' (6)

Such incidents take place every day in the West Bank and Gaza. In the last few years statistical data have been gathered on Israeli-imposed curfews:

One form of collective punishment, the curfew, was selected for entry to a database. In the period 1982- 1986, there were 89 curfews reported in the press. Since no independent human rights monitoring organization regularly recorded curfews, there is no way to know whether the number reported is accurate. Since, however, any military officer can declare a curfew or proclaim an area a closed military zone, it can be assumed that the actual number of curfews, for limited periods, far exceeds the recorded number. A large percentage of curfews last for only several hours, while military forces are busy sealing off the area with checkpoints and rounding up "suspects." who often include all Palestinian males in the area.

As the following incidents indicate, curfews can last for several days. The longest curfew reported in the five-year period was a 50 day curfew in the town of Dhahariyyeh, following the stoning of a military vehicle in which a civilian passenger was killed. The curfew was designed to extract information concerning the identity of the stone-throwers. In the end, five youths were arrested, but the residents remained steadfast throughout, refusing to cooperate with the authorities. The curfew had a profound social and economic impact on the town. Many local businesses closed permanently, laborers lost their regular jobs, an entire school year was lost for the youth, and townsmen risked capture and injury by sneaking out in the predawn hours to find day work in Israel to feed their families. Hundreds of youth were detained and interrogated for varying periods, most in the Fara'a detention center near Nablus. (7)

After the outbreak of the Intifada in December, 1987 the Israeli occupation authorities dramatically increased their imposition of collective punishment, curfews, checkpoints, mass round-ups and closures against the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli political and military leaders openly talked about the possibility of applying the "Transfer Plan" -their euphemism for the expulsion of the Palestinian Arabs. Some, such as Professor Arnon Sofer, admitted that "once shooting started, it wouldn't be a transfer, it 'would be murder.'" Former Military Intelligence Chief General Shlomo Gazit, who as a Palmach terrorist and company commander in the Hare1 Brigade in 1948 participated in the mass expulsion of Palestinian Arabs, confirmed that Israeli measures such as those described in this chapter were designed so that Palestinians would "face unemployment, and a shortage of land and water and thus we can create the necessary conditions for the Departure of the Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza." (8)

EXAMPLES OF CURFEWS AND ATTACKS ON
PALESTINIAN UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS 1982 - 1986

The following incidents disclose that the Israelis impose curfews on the slightest pretext, and, perhaps of greater significance, often without any pretext at all?

15 March 1982
A curfew was imposed on Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. During the curfew, 35 people were arbitrarily arrested.

24 March 1982
A curfew was imposed on Jalazon Refugee Camp in Ramallah. The curfew was imposed because of a memorial of the Karaamah battle. There were arbitrary mass arrests.

25 March 1982
A curfew was imposed in Jenin following a large demonstration.

25 March 1982
A curfew was imposed on Rhafa in Gaza following a demonstration.

31 March 1982
A curfew was imposed on Beit Jala in Bethlehem following the hurling of a bomb at an Israeli bus.

1 May 1982
A curfew was imposed on Dheisheh Refugee Camp following demonstrations protesting the assault on a1 Aqsa Mosque.

9 May 1982
A curfew was imposed on Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus following demonstrations.

10 May 1982
A curfew was imposed on Bin Beit il Maa' Refugee Camp, Balata Refugee Camp, and Nablus following demonstrations and stone throwing.

11 May 1982
A curfew was imposed on Silwad, Bitunya and Ein Yabrd in Ramallah following stone throwing at Israeli cars.

16 May 1982
A curfew was imposed on Balata Refugee Camp following a memorial of 15 May, when some residents were killed. 30 residents were arrested.

16 May 1982
A partial curfew was proclaimed in Bireh, Ramallah, following stone throwing at an Israeli bus.

25 May 1982
A curfew lasting 9 days was imposed on Nablus Old City.

2 July 1982
A curfew lasting 5 days was imposed on Balata Refugee Camp, Nablus, following demonstrations and stone throwing at Israeli cars.

1 November 1982
A curfew lasting 6 days was imposed on Dheisheh Refugee Camp, Bethlehem. In addition to the curfew there were mass arrests.

5 November 1982
A curfew lasting 5 days was imposed on Dhahariyya, Hebron, following stone throwing at military cars.

22 November 1982
A curfew was imposed on Old Askar Refugee Camp in Nablus following the alleged beating of an Israeli civilian by Palestinians.

5 December 1982
A curfew was imposedon Zawiya in Nablus following the arrest of some residents for membership in a revolutionary group.

6 December 1982
A curfew lasting one day was imposed on Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus. The curfew was imposed to prevent a memorial demonstration for a martyr resident of the camp.

19 December 1982
A curfew was imposed on Qasbah Quarter in Nablus following stone throwing at Israeli cars.

4 January 1983
A curfew was imposed on Nablus Old City, Balata Refugee Camp and Old Askar Refugee Camp following demonstrations and stone throwing at Israeli cars.

1 February 1983
A curfew lasting 50 days was imposed on Dhahariyya in Hebron. The curfew followed stone throwing at a military car, in which Israeli civilian Ester Ghana was killed. The curfew was designed to get villagers to identify the stone throwers. All residents were forced to remain in their homes, except for one or two hour periods each day to buy necessities. Children could not attend school, workers were prevented from going to their jobs, and shops were closed.

15 February 1983
A curfew was imposed on Qalandiya Refugee Camp in Ramallah following stone throwing on Israeli cars.

1 March 1983
A curfew was imposed on Aida, Dheisheh and Beit Maa' Refugee Camps in Bethlehem and Nablus following stone throwing at Israeli cars.

12 March 1983
A curfew was imposed on Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem following large demonstrations in the camp.

13 March 1983
A curfew was imposed on Halhul in Hebron following demonstrations that took place against the visit of former American President Carter to the area.

14 March 1983
A curfew was imposed on Qalandiya, Amari and Jalazon Refugee Camps in Ramallah following large demonstrations in the camps.

25 March 1983
A curfew was imposed on Qabatiya in Jenin following the death of a young martyr in the town.

25 April 1983
A curfew was imposed on ArrubRefugee Camp in Hebron following a demonstration in memory of a girl martyr from the camp.

25 April 1983
A curfew was imposed on Azza Refugee Camp in Bethlehem following stone throwing at Israeli cars, which led to the injury of a soldier.

6 June 1983
A curfew was imposed on Qalandiya Refugee Camp in Ramallah following stone throwing at an Israeli bus, from which an Israeli soldier suffered injuries.

7 June 1983
A curfew was imposed on the Charitable Societies Exhibition in Jerusalem. Military forces raided and declared a curfew at the exhibition of traditional heritage works sponsored by the Charitable Societies.

1 July 1983
A partial curfew was imposed on Hebron following an incident in which an Israeli car was stoned.

6 October 1983
A curfew was proclaimed on Kafr Malek in Ramallah during the sealing of a village house.

14 January 1985
Nablus Market was surrounded and residents were prevented from getting in.

9 February 1985
Checkpoints prevented entry to Najah University in Nablus.

1 March 1985
Approximately 250 soldiers raided the Faculty of Engineering Building of Bir Zeit University in Ramallah during the night, to confiscate books being prepared for a book exhibition.

11 June 1985
The entire area of Yatta in Hebron was declared a closed military zone.

14 July 1985
A curfew was imposed on Balata Refugee camp in Nablus because of a demonstration protesting the assault of Amal against the Palestinian Refugee Camps of Sabra and Shatila.

27 July 1985
A curfew lasting one day was imposed on Ein Beit Maa' Refugee Camp in Nablus following the hurling of a molotov cocktail at an Israeli bus.

1 August 1985
A curfew lasting 4 days was imposed on Nablus. The three city gates leading to residential quarters were closed.

7 August 1985
A curfew lasting 3 days was imposed on Ein Beit Maa' Refugee Camp following the injury of two soldiers.

12 August 1985
A curfew lasting 5 days was imposed on Qazzazin Quarter in Hebron following the stabbing of a settler.

26 August 1985
A curfew lasting 4 days was imposed on Tulkarm following the assassination of a soldier.

26 August 1985
A curfew lasting 3 days was imposed on Jenin following the injury of a soldier.

4 September 1985
A curfew lasting 2 days was imposed on Amari Refugee Camp in Ramallah following the throwing of stones at military cars; the road leading to the main road was blocked by barbed wire.

4 September 1985
A curfew lasting 2 days was imposed on Anabta in Tulkarm following throwing of stones at Israeli cars.

9 September 1985
A 3 day curfew was imposed on Gaza.

10 September 1985
A curfew lasting 2 hours was imposed on Ramallah following the hurling of a molotov cocktail at a military car.

12 September 1985
A curfew was imposed on Burqa in Nablus following the throwing of stones on a military patrol. All the village mukhtars were gathered and threatened with uprooting of all the trees along the main road if a similar incident occurred.

14 September 1985
A curfew was imposed at Balata Refugee Camp after stones were thrown at a military patrol. All men and youths were gathered together and house to house searches occurred throughout the camp.

27 September 1985
A curfew was imposed on Halhul in Hebron, the western district of the city near the mosque, following the throwing of stones at a car.

1 October 1985
A curfew was imposed on Sair in Hebron. The military governor proclaimed the curfew without stating any reason.

4 October 1985
A curfew lasting one day was imposed on Arrabeah in Jenin.

5 October 1985
A curfew lasting one day was imposed on Khan Yunis in Ghaza following the beating of an Israeli.

8 October 1985
A curfew lasting 2 days was imposed on Beit Ummar in Hebron following the assassination of an Israeli.

8 October 1985
A curfew was imposed on Hebron City Center following clashes between Jewish settlers and Khalil residents.

14 October 1985
A curfew was imposed on Amari Refugee Camp in Ramallah following the hurling of a molotov cocktail at an Israeli bus.

21 October 1985
A curfew lasting 2 days was imposed on Burqa in Nablus following the stabbing of an Israeli guide.

2 November 1985
Students were prevented from getting into Bethlehem University.

5 November 1985
A curfew lasting 2 days was imposed on Surif in Hebron.

7 November 1985
A half-day curfew was imposed on Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus following the throwing of stones at Israeli cars.

17 November 1985
A curfew lasting a day was imposed on Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus following the hurling of a molotov cocktail at a house.

20 November 1985
A curfew lasting a day was imposed on Dhannabah in Tulkarm.

24 November 1985
A curfew lasting 2 days was imposed on Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus when security officers found weapons in the camp.

26 November 1985
A curfew lasting 2 days was imposed on Tulkarm following the hurling of a hand grenade at the VAT building.

2 December 1985
A curfew lasting 3 days was imposed on Qalqilya in Tulkarm following the shooting of an Israeli.

17 December 1985
A curfew lasting 2 days was imposed on Najah University in Nablus. Checkpoints at the university entrance prevented entry by students and professors.

19 December 1985
A curfew was imposed onNajah University in Nablus. The authorities claimed that students planned to hold an illegal meeting.

1 January 1986
All shops in Hebron Vegetable market were closed for 3 days.

7 January 1986
A curfew lasting 2 days was imposed on Najah University in Nablus. Checkpoints erected around the university prevented entry.

13 January 1986
A curfew lasting 5 days was imposed on the city of Nablus following the assassination of a soldier; sixty students were prevented from taking their tawjihi examinations.

3 February 1986
A one day curfew was imposed on Ariha following the hurling of a bomb at a military patrol.

4 February 1986
A one day curfew was imposed on Faarah Refugee Camp in Nablus following the hurling of a molotov cocktail at a military car.

5 February 1986
A one day curfew was imposed on Silat Harthia in Jenin following a shooting incident.

5 February 1986
A one day curfew was imposed on Tulkarm Refugee Camp following the hurling of a bomb at a military patrol.

18 February 1986
A one day curfew was imposed on Nur Shams Refugee Camp in Tulkarm.

18 February 1986
A curfew lasting for half a day was imposed on Old Askar Refugee Camp in Nablus following the shooting of a camp resident.

21 February 1986
A one day curfew was imposed on Ghaza Square in Ghaza following the hurling of a bomb at a military car; there were also house to house and body searches in the area.

22 February 1986
A curfew was imposed on Najah University at Nablus. Checkpoints prevented students from entering the University campus.

4 April 1986
A curfew was imposed on Najah University at Nablus. Checkpoints were erected to prevent students and professors from entering the university.

9 April 1986
A curfew was imposed on Najah University in Nablus. Soldiers raided the university, breaking into the student union office and confiscating books and papers.

5 May 1986
A 3 day curfew was imposed on Najah University. Military forces erected checkpoints to prevent students and professors from entering the campus.

3 June 1986
A curfew was imposed on Najah University. Military forces raided the university while students were gathering inside the university campus.

6 October 1986
A curfew was imposed on the Martyrs' Sons School in Ariha. Military forces raided the school and arrested some students, claiming they had put stones in the street.

27 October 1986
Acurfew was imposed on Amari Refugee Camp in Ramallah. Military forces declared a curfew and raided the camp's boys' school, and arrested some students, under the pretext that stones were thrown at settlers.

27 October 1986
Checkpoints were erected at Bir Zeit University entrances to prevent students from entering and attending Palestine Revival Week activities.

29 November 1986
A curfew lasting 3 days was imposed on Bir Zeit University. Checkpoints were erected around the university to prevent entry and attendance at planned 29 November activities.

29 November 1986
A curfew was imposed on Najah University. During the curfew, soldiers raided the university campus at night and confiscated books and broke doors and furniture.

1 December 1986
A curfew was imposed on Falastin Square in Nablus. Military forces closed the gate leading to Falastin Square and the Old City of Nablus.

NOTES TO CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

1. Amnesty International, Collective Punishment Through Curfews, Checkpoints, Muss Round-Ups and Closures in Israel and the Occupied Territories (London and Washington, D.C., 1986).

2. Ha'aretz, September 8, 198 1.

3. Amnesty International, Collective Punishment.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Al Fajr, Jerusalem, 198 1 .

7. Amnesty International, Collective Punishment.

8. The Jerusalem Post International Edition, March 5, 1988, p. 7.

9. Amnesty International, Collective Punishment.

 



Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem
By Issa Nakhleh

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