• In 2016, Israeli forces deployed an average of 107 adhoc ‘flying’ checkpoints along West Bank roads each week.
• Between 2000 and 2005, 67 Palestinian mothers were forced to give birth at Israeli military checkpoints. 36 babies died.
• A total of 5,587 flying (temporary) checkpoints were counted on West Bank roads in 2016.
• There are 124 gates at the entrances to villages – 59 of them closed most of the time.
• About 88,000 Palestinians are forced to use detours, two to five times longer, to reach the closest city.
• Most Palestinian farmers must obtain special permits or ‘prior coordination’ to reach their land isolated between the wall and the Green Line.
• Over 400 kilometres of roads are prohibited or highly restricted for Palestinian-plated vehicles.
• Under international law, Israel has the obligation to facilitate the free movement of Palestinians within the oPt, including East Jerusalem.
• The permit regime, wall, and checkpoints have progressively isolated East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
• 10 percent of pregnant women are delayed at checkpoints while travelling to hospital to give birth.
• In Hebron, Palestinian children living and/or studying in schools in the Old City must walk through up to four Israeli military checkpoints just to reach school.
• Palestinian women passing through the checkpoint system are subjected physical hardship and the constant risk of harassment.
• Palestinian women are delayed for hours (often without food/water), endure verbal or physical abuse, stripped semi-naked, slapped, and worse.
• Checkpoints make it difficult or impossible to transport tools and work materials throughout different areas of occupied al-Khalil, slowing or preventing repairs and the building of infrastructure.

This week’s Just the Facts comes from:

• “Movement and access in the West Bank” from OCHA oPt.
• The “Checkpoint Births” infographic from Visualizing Palestine.
• “Children of the State of Palestine” from UNICEF.
• “The gendered aspect of Israeli checkpoints in the OPT” from Coalition of Women for Peace and Who Profits from the Occupation.
• And the Kumi Now entry from Christian Peacemaker Teams.

Learning More

• Kalandia: A Checkpoint Story, available on on YouTube.
• Rent of buy the documetary Checkpoint by Yoav Shamir on Vimeo.
• There is also a short film called The Present from filmmaker Farah Nabulsi, that you should try to watch. It has just been shortlisted for an Academy Award. You can see a trailer on the film’s website and take a look at the film’s list of festival screenings.

To go deeper, we have an extensive list of Additional Resources at the bottom of this week’s entry and we’re developing a YouTube playlist on the subject.