Palestinian vehicles to enter Jerusalem for 1st time in 15 years
Published 14 April 2015 10:15
http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=760462

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel will allow Palestinian vehicles to enter
Jerusalem for the first time in 15 years on Tuesday, the Israeli Coordinator
of Government Activities in the Territories said.

COGAT chief Yoav Mordechai said that the first phase of the plan will see
more than 100 Palestinian doctors from the Bethlehem and Hebron districts
permitted to enter Jerusalem in private vehicles holding Palestinian license
plates, and would be mostly aimed at those working in Israeli hospitals.

He said that the next phase will allow for businessmen to move freely.

The announcement comes a month after the Israeli authorities allowed
Palestinian men over 55 and women over 50 to enter Jerusalem without
permits.

That announcement also said that married men over the age of 22 would be
eligible to apply for work permits, in contrast to current regulations that
only allow married men over 24 who have children to apply.

As part of Israel's nearly 50-year-old military occupation of the West Bank,
Palestinians are subject to a complex system of movement permits and are
prevented from moving freely between different areas of the West Bank as
well as into Israel and the Gaza Strip.

A 2007 World Bank report said: "Currently, freedom of movement and access
for Palestinians within the West Bank is the exception rather than the norm,
contrary to the commitments undertaken in a number of Agreements between GOI
(the Government of Israel) and the PA.

"In particular, both the Oslo Accords and the Road Map were based on the
principle that normal Palestinian economic and social life would be
unimpeded by restrictions."

The report added that Palestinians "are barred from freely accessing large
segments of the West Bank. These restricted areas include all areas within
the municipal boundaries of settlements, the “seam zone”, much of the Jordan
Valley, East Jerusalem, restricted roads and other ‘closed’ areas,"
estimated in total "to be in excess of 50 percent of the total area of the
West Bank."

Israel provides permits to about 30,000 Palestinians from the West Bank
allowing them to work inside Israel, but these permits are easily revocable
and are subject to major restrictions on both movements and rights.

The numbers are also a far cry from the 1990s, when thousands more worked
inside Israel.

Because Israel maintains almost complete control over the Palestinian
economy, the decrease in numbers allowed to work inside Israel has led to
widespread unemployment.