Israel Closes Palestinian Border Crossings For 10 Days
You Call This Life? West Bank Palestinian workers wait an an Israeli checkpoint near Hebron. Image by haaretz
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Crossings between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza will be closed to Palestinians for 11 days beginning with the start of the Sukkot holiday.
Exceptions for the Oct. 4-14 closings will be made for humanitarian, medical and unusual cases with the approval of the Israeli military’s coordinator of government activities in the territories.
Usually during long holidays such as Sukkot, the crossings are closed just at the beginning and end of the observances.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman approved the longer closure days after three Israeli security officers were killed by a Palestinian man at the entrance to the Jerusalem-area West Bank settlement of Har Adar, where he had a permit to work.
Palestinians with valid work permits will not be allowed to enter Israel.
The crossings also were closed last month for the two days of Rosh Hashanah and for Yom Kippur.
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