Israeli checkpoint

A Israel Defense Forces checkpoint, usually called an Israeli checkpoint (Hebrew: מחסום, machsom, Arabic: حاجز, hajez), is a barrier erected by the Israel Defense Forces with the stated aim of enhancing the security of Israel and of preventing those who wish to do harm from entering the country. Most of the checkpoints in the West Bank are not located on the boundary between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, but rather throughout the West Bank.^[1]

Many Palestinians, especially residents of the West Bank, claim that despite the checkpoints' intended use, in practice they violate Palestinians' rights to transportation and other human rights. Palestinian complaints of abuse and humiliation are common: Israel Defense Forces' Judge Advocate General, Maj. Gen. Dr. Menachem Finkelstein, states that "there were many - too many - complaints that soldiers manning checkpoints abuse and humiliate Palestinians and that the large number of complaints 'lit a red light' for him".^[2]

The United Nations in its February 2009 Humanitarian Monitor report has stated that it is becoming "apparent" that the checkpoint and obstacles, which Israeli authorities justified from the beginning of the second Intifada (September 2000) as a temporary military response to violent confrontations and attacks on Israeli civilians, is evolving into "a more permanent system of control that is steadily reducing the space available for Palestinian growth and movement for the benefit of the increasing Israeli settler population".^[3]

Since a 2002 incident where explosives were found in a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance,^[4] medical vehicles have not been immune to searches. Some checkpoints between Palestinian towns in the West Bank require permits for Palestinians to cross them and exceptions are not always made for medical emergencies. Between 2000 and 2006, 68 Palestinian women gave birth at Israeli checkpoints, 5 of whom died and 35 miscarried.^[5] In contrast, a certain and small number of Palestinian diplomats and individuals are given 'VIP' cards by the Israeli army that effectively allow the carriers free passage through checkpoints.

IDF checkpoints are usually manned by the Israeli Military Police, who perform security checks on Palestinians, the Israel Border Police, and miscellaneous combat soldiers who ensure the safety of the checkpoints.

Flying checkpoints

According to the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ), the Israeli military established 121 flying checkpoints in the West Bank and East Jerusalem between October 2006 until April 2007.^[6] Most of the flying checkpoints are located in the northern part of the West Bank; in particular, the Nablus, Tubas and Jenin governorates.^[6]

Palestinians attempting to cross flying checkpoints can wait anywhere between 20 and 90 minutes, and in some cases, longer.^[6]

Medical vehicles are often stopped and searched by Israeli soldiers at flying checkpoints. For example, in March 2002, an explosive device was found in a Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance. The Red Crescent expressed shock at the incident, and began an internal investigation.^[4] On January 11, 2004, a PRCS ambulance not carrying patients was stopped and searched at a flying checkpoint near the village of Jit. The ambulance was escorted by military jeep to the Qadomin bus station where after 10 minutes the ambulance crew got their IDs back and were allowed to continue working. In another case, on the same day, an ambulance transporting a diabetic patient to the hospital in Tulkarm was stopped, searched, and allowed to proceed after the companion of the patient was arrested.^[7]

Unmanned roadblocks set up by the IDF which usually consist of concrete blocks preventing vehicular traffic are sometimes also referred to as checkpoints.^{[citation needed]}