Mahmoud Hamdouni lives with the rest of the residents of Mriha, a small village in the south of Jenin city, in what looks like a cage after the Israeli army closed its four entrances.

The village, which is only a few kilometers away from the town of Ya'bad, has become isolated from it, and its residents find being able to leave it extremely difficult. 

The suffering of the village's residents mirrors that of many Palestinian villages and towns in the West Bank, which "Israel" decided to besiege – both to facilitate the movement of its settlers and to gain greater control over the land.

The number of military checkpoints and iron gates increased under security pretexts in an unprecedented way, coinciding with the start of the aggression in the Gaza Strip more than a year ago.

These measures severely restrict Palestinian movement, forcing them onto long, rugged detours, while settlers benefit from easy, protected shortcuts under the full guard of the Israeli army.

'People are dying because of the barriers'

Life in Mriha has become very harsh, as Hamdouni told Al Mayadeen English. The main entrance has been closed since the beginning of the war with an iron gate, and the western entrance has been blocked with a permanent military checkpoint.

“There are two other dirt entrances that people began using as an alternative to the closed entrances, but the Israeli army closed them with earth embankments, so we became completely surrounded," he added.

Mriha, which is inhabited by 450 Palestinians in an area not exceeding 80 dunums, has been subjected, over many years, to fierce Israeli attacks that targeted its lands by seizing and demolishing its homes, forcing more than 40 families to leave.

After popular pressure, protests, and sit-ins, the Israeli army decided to open the military checkpoint for only three hours, spread throughout the day, which didn’t make a significant difference to the residents.

“Schools are constantly disrupted because teachers from outside the village are unable to enter. Students attending school just 800 meters away are constantly harassed by soldiers and settlers as they navigate alternative dirt roads," Hamdouni told Al Mayadeen English. Anyone who wants to leave the village thinks a thousand times before because he knows that he may spend the night outside the house due to the tight closure."

Many deaths were recorded in Mriha due to these measures. Hamdouni’s father himself fell ill last March, so he called for an ambulance, which wasn’t able to arrive until five hours later to transfer him to a hospital in Jenin, then he died there two hours after his arrival.

Even pregnant women are forced to stay in the town of Ya'bad, days before their due date because they know how difficult it is to go to the hospital if they are inside their village.

Forbidden movement

Under the pretext of ensuring security, "Israel" has established more than 800 fixed military checkpoints - excluding abrupt checkpoints - of various types, including stone and earth embankments. Additionally, approximately 150 military iron gates block residential complexes, trapping residents behind them and severely restricting their movement.

Since the start of the war on Gaza, "Israel" has set up iron gates at the entrances of Palestinian villages, towns, and camps to obstruct the movement of their residents in order to guarantee freedom of movement for settlers.

These gates are permanently closed and make the lives of Palestinians more difficult, as they are forced to take alternative routes from within neighboring villages whose streets are not prepared for heavy traffic or for the passage of trucks and buses, which creates complex traffic jams that last for hours.

Marwan Sabah, head of the village council of Umm Safa village, in the north of Ramallah, told Al Mayadeen English that entrances have been closed for more than a year with iron gates and earth embankments.

In this village, home to nearly a thousand Palestinians, "Israel" is attempting to seize land to connect large settlements, prioritizing this expansion at the expense of Palestinian lives. 

To do this, it restricted the residents’ lives and prevented their movement, forcing them to move through three neighboring villages to get out.

“They blocked all the entrances, and we cannot move outside the village even though we are only a few meters away from the main street, but if anyone approaches it, he is shot immediately," he added.

The residents made a small hole in the earth embankment so that they could pass on foot, but the soldiers re-closed it and threatened them not to approach.

At the same time, as the residents were confined inside the village and prevented from leaving, the Israeli government sent a group of settlers to attack them and steal one of the mountains within the village with full protection from the Israeli army.

Undeclared goals

In addition to restricting Palestinians and making their lives more difficult, experts agree that there are undeclared long-term goals for imposing this massive amount of restrictions.
 
Suhail Khaliliyah, Director of the Settlement Monitoring Unit at the Areej Institute for Applied Research, said that the aim of this is to rearrange the political geography of the West Bank.

These barriers will result in new road networks and paths, which is a prelude to a geographical division of the West Bank so that there will be a road network for settlers and a road network for Palestinians.
 
This matter needs time, but "Israel" has already begun laying its foundations. The concept closely resembles former US President Donald Trump’s proposal, which includes bridges and tunnels to link settlements.
 
“This plan is being worked on slowly, and Israel is looking for international support and funding for this project to gain legitimacy," he added.