Military checkpoints, gates, road closures and other restrictions in the occupied West Bank are not only limiting Palestinian movement but are also helping reshape the geographic landscape, affecting access to work, education, healthcare and agricultural land, as well as the movement of goods and services and broader economic activity, according to an analytical report.
اضافة اعلان
The International Academic Campaign Against Israeli Occupation and Apartheid issued a report titled “Reshaping the Palestinian Space Under the Israeli Apartheid System: A Study of Checkpoints and Roads in the West Bank.” The report draws on data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as well as legal, human rights and academic references.
925 Movement Obstacles
According to the report, OCHA documented approximately 925 permanent or intermittent movement obstacles across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as of December 2025. These restrictions affect the movement of around 3.4 million Palestinians.
The report said the figure is 43% higher than the annual average recorded over the previous two decades, which stood at 647 obstacles.
The documented obstacles include 89 permanently staffed checkpoints, 218 partial checkpoints, 232 road gates, 114 roadblocks, 167 earth mounds and 105 road barriers.
A System Extending Beyond Movement Restrictions
The report said the significance of these figures lies not only in the number of obstacles but also in their transformation into permanent features of the Palestinian landscape, affecting daily life and access to workplaces, schools, healthcare services and agricultural land.
It described the system as a “flexible infrastructure of control,” explaining that an obstacle can serve a restrictive function even without being permanently closed if its opening is uncertain, requires prior coordination or is subject to changing instructions.
The report referred to an “economy of uncertainty” resulting from the difficulty of predicting travel times or whether passage will be possible. It said this can lead to higher fuel consumption, lost working hours, increased transportation costs, postponed medical appointments and potential damage to agricultural and food products.
Roads Reshape Geographic Connectivity
The report examined areas including Jerusalem, Qalandia, Ramallah, Hizma, Jaba, the E1 area, Bethlehem and Hebron as examples of the interaction between checkpoints, roads, the separation barrier, settlements and the permit system.
It said the accumulation of road and settlement projects, checkpoints and changes in land-use patterns in the Hizma-Jaba and E1 areas affects geographic connectivity between different parts of the occupied West Bank.
The report also noted that Route 60, one of the main roads extending from the northern to the southern West Bank, is affected by numerous movement obstacles, forcing Palestinians in some areas to take longer and more costly routes.
Restrictions on Access to Agricultural Land
The restrictions are not limited to roads and urban areas, the report said, but also extend to agricultural land.
It estimated that around 20% of documented obstacles impede access to agricultural areas. Access to some land located between the separation barrier and the Green Line requires permits or prior coordination through agricultural gates.
The report said this affects Palestinians’ ability to organize agricultural work according to the needs of the land and seasonal cycles, making access dependent on gate-opening schedules and permit procedures.
It also linked movement restrictions to difficulties accessing healthcare and educational facilities, as well as their impact on the movement of goods, markets and relations between villages and towns.
Legal and Spatial Dimensions
The report examined the movement system within the broader legal and human rights debate concerning discrimination, segregation and territorial control. It cited the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of July 19, 2024, concerning the legal consequences of Israeli policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.
It also focused on the spatial and visual impact of checkpoints, gates, walls and earth barriers, describing them as elements that have become part of the daily landscape and that affect Palestinians’ relationship with their surroundings and the perceptions formed by younger generations of roads, villages, cities and land.
The report concluded that military checkpoints do not merely regulate Palestinian movement but also affect Palestinians’ relationship with land, services, employment, education and healthcare, as well as agricultural and economic activity and the physical form of cities and villages.
It said studying this system requires examining checkpoints as part of a broader network encompassing roads, the separation barrier, settlements, the permit system and closures, describing these elements as interconnected components that contribute to shaping the Palestinian geographic space.
