UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - September 30, 2009 - Back to Resources Page

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This report provides an update on the number of obstacles that form part of the Government of Israel’s
system of internal closures within the West Bank.

The closure system is a primary cause of the humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It restricts Palestinian access not only to basic services such as health and education, but divides communities from their land and one another, places of work and sites of religious worship.. The types of obstacles used to restrict free Palestinian movement include permanent and partially manned checkpoints, roadblocks (consisting of rows of 1-metre concrete blocks), metal gates, earth mounds, earth walls (a long series of earth mounds), trenches, road barriers and an elaborate system of permits. The purpose of these obstacles, as the Israeli Government states, is to protect Israeli citizens from Palestinian militant attacks that have killed around 1,000 Israelis since September 2000.

OCHA field staff collates information about the exact location of each closure with a Global Positioning System (GPS). The information is then integrated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) and used to ‘map’ each obstacle.

To download the full report please click below:

Attachment	Size
CCA092006.pdf	636.83 KB

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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - September 30, 2009 - Back to Resources Page