Roadblocks up 40 percent in West Bank

The number of Israeli military road blocks in the West Bank grew by nearly 40 percent in the past year, part of an increasingly sophisticated lockdown that disrupts all aspects of Palestinian life, a UN aid agency said on Oct. 11. The placement of these checkpoints and unmanned physical obstacles means the West Bank is increasingly being carved up into separate parts, with travel between them becoming more and more difficult, said David Shearer, the head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jerusalem. In all, there were 528 checkpoints and obstacles in the West Bank, up from 376 in August 2005, Shearer said, presenting new statistics. The West Bank's Jordan Valley is now entirely off limits to Palestinians who are not residents of that area, except for those with permits to work in the valley's Jewish settlements. The checkpoints are multiplying as Israel pushes ahead with the separation barrier which it is building along–and at some points inside–the West Bank territory.