For the third day in a row, Occupation forces continued expanding the âAnabta checkpoint east of Tulkarm. Bulldozers razed land trees belonging to owners from the nearby village of Ramin, in another step toward strengthening the system of movement restrictions that has been strangling the West Bank.
***image3***At the checkpoint, eyewitnesses reported that huge military bulldozers cleared land and uprooted trees while a large group of soldiers kept watch over the area. Abdullah Zaydan, a resident of Ramin village, explained to the Palestinian news agency Wafa that at least 10 olive trees had been destroyed.
The expansion of the checkpoint directly affects the nearby village of Ramin. Last September, Occupation forces confiscated 6.5 dunums from local farmers for the expansion of the checkpoint, further straining their already weakened agricultural economy.
The âAnabta checkpoint is located some 18 km east of Tulkarm and serves as the key chokepoint in the district. Situated on the main road, it allows a small group of soldiers to control the flow of traffic from Tulkarm to Nablus, Ramallah and Jenin.
There are at least 630 checkpoints, barriers, tunnels and iron gates in the West Bank, three quarters of which are found on the main roads connecting the 18 largest population centers in the West Bank. These mechanisms not only make travel incredibly difficult and unpredictable but, in addition to the Wall, also separate the West Bank into a number of isolated ghettos. Thus, as settlements, the Wall and checkpoints are expanded and fortified, Palestinians find themselves further cut off from the surrounding communities.
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