A Look at the Use of Curfew in the West Bank

Curfew. A perfectly innocuous term, right? Associated with the protection of teenagers and young adults, it simply means giving a person a deadline in which they must be home and off the streets. It is a tool, in this instance, intended to restrict ones movement in order to protect those who fall under its safeguard. Yet, there is a darker implication to this restriction of movement. What if the wielders of the power, those who initiate as well as enforce the curfew, see it as a method to protect themselves and not those who must live under its restrictions? What if it is fully understood that the implementation of this manner of protection will result in negative if not dire consequences for those who come under its restrictions? In such circumstances, has the tool of protection not been turned into a weapon of terror? This is the situation that residents of the West Bank and Gaza currently find themselves living in. Israel with its unlimited power over these regions has the authority to implement, at their discretion, a curfew over any portion of the territories they choose as well as any and all people who find themselves in the area. Why does Israel use the curfew and moreover what does life under Israeli curfew look like to Palestinians?

There is no clear data of Israel’s first implementation of curfew on Palestinian populations; though, Adam Hanieh, a writer with the Middle East Research and Information Project, says the use goes back to at least the end of the 1980’s when Palestinians began their first “intifada” or uprising against Israeli occupation. Heavy use of it was again seen during the first Gulf War back in the early 1990’s (Hanieh 1) “as a precaution necessary to prevent an explosion of violence in support of Saddam Hussein” (Human Rights Watch) . It was not until the early part of the 2000’s, with the second intifada underway, that this practice appeared to become a routine policy (Hanieh 1).

This timeline of events fit in with Israeli Defense Force (IDF) statements that say curfew is imposed as a “security measure”. In recent years it has been used to allow military personal to enter the areas and conduct operations safely. Is the treatment that Palestinians face under curfew really necessary to keep the Israeli military safe?

Sam Bahour, resident of the West Bank and co-author of Homeland: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians describes Palestinian life under curfew as being in “total lockdown”. Curfew affects every area of Palestinian life; businesses close or simply cannot open, schools are dismissed and are also shut down, government offices and medical care and services such as pharmacies, doctors’ offices and ambulances are all cut off from the public. While this restriction on movement can be confined to a couple hours out of the day or even a few days out of the month it has also been implemented for longer stretches of time.

In 2002, during Israeli offensives “Operation Defensive Shield” and “Operation Determined Path” the city of Nablus, one of the largest cities in the West Bank with a population of roughly 120,000, experienced three stretches of prolonged curfew. They ranged from, April 2 to the 22 then again from May 31to June 6 and finally from June 21 to the end of September. This last period was especially trying not only for its length of time but also for its severity. During this three month period the residents spent more than 70 days under 24 hour curfew; throughout which time Israeli forces would periodically cut water and electricity supplies to most homes (Amnesty International). Other cities, such as Jenin and Hebron, have undergone similar situations. The city of Hebron, located in the southern part of the West Bank, experienced only 19 hours of not being under curfew during one 26 day (or 624 hour) stretch in 2003 (oPt).

The implementation of the curfew is at times as distressing as the curfew itself and is often lethal. Bahour describes how he and residents of his neighborhood are often informed of the curfew

“This total lockdown is accomplished by Israeli jeeps, tanks and armored personnel carriers roaming the narrow Palestinian streets with loud speakers notifying all, in an awful Arabic accent, to go home or risk being arrested or shot. This announcement is regularly accompanied by rapid machine gun fire in the air and the detonation of tear gas canisters and stun grenades in the open markets to make sure people get the message” (Bahour 30)

B’Tselem, an Israeli Human Rights organization working in the West Bank and Gaza, supports Bahour’s claim but also adds that Israel’s procedures are not always this clear. While his account depicts a coordinated if not rather shocking effort on Israel’s part to inform Palestinians of the impending curfew this is not always the case. According to B’Tselem, a number of witnesses claim that there is much confusion about whether or not a curfew is in place and that they “often have to rely on rumors and what they see happening in the streets” to know what is going on (Curfew 1). This claim has been documented in countless sources such as, Barriers to Education a report put out by the Right to Education Committee at Birzet University. This report cites unclear procedures of curfew implementation during school hours as a safety risk for students. (Murray 5). Middle East Report also discusses the confusion that surrounds the execution of curfew. It writes that there have been many occasions in the city of Ramallah when the government radio has issued one time for the curfew to be lifted but the soldiers on the streets have issued another (Hanieh 1). Amnesty International collected this testimony from Rami, a 12 year old resident of Jenin, regarding the killing of his friends, brother’s six-year-old Ahmad and 12-year-old Jamil Yusuf Ghazawi due to the confusion over curfew:

"I heard that the curfew had been lifted. When I heard this, I went out and joined my friends, Jamil, Tareq, Ahmad, Muhammad, Wa'el and Wissam. We all headed off to the main street. Jamil, Tareq, Ahmad and Wa'el were on their bikes and the rest of us were on foot. When we reached the intersection with the main street, we saw IDF jeeps by the square and became afraid. We headed back toward home, and stopped and stood to the side of a building on our street when we heard the sound of a tank go by. We then saw another tank about 300 metres from us, so we left the building and began to hurry back home. Jamil was telling Ahmad and Tareq to leave quickly as there were tanks. The tank was now at the end of the street and then I saw Dr. Samer's car coming toward us. He was blowing the horn to warn us to get out of the way. The next thing I remember is a red light and then an explosion.

"I moved toward the side when I heard the bomb. After that I came back towards the street and first saw Ahmad. He did not have a left leg and his stomach was on the road. I saw Jamil: he was injured in his back and was shaking his hands. He opened his eyes for a minute and then closed them. Tareq was near an electric pole, we found him last. One of his legs had a hole in it and pieces of the bomb were in his stomach, his ear and his back.

"Dr. Samer stopped his car in front of our house and was walking towards our garage. When he got out of the car, the neighbours told him to come inside, he then collapsed. Our neighbour Yazid carried him. Dr. Samer had no shoes and he was dressed in a T-shirt and trousers."

Upon investigation into Israeli Defense Force (IDF) procedures of implementation of curfew on Palestinian populations, B’Tselem walked away with no answers. The spokesperson for the IDF refused to offer any information. While B’Tselem recognizes the legitimacy of Israeli curfew on Palestinian populations if it is in conducted a correct manner i.e. clear notification of areas under curfew and only for a set period of time (restrictions like the ones put on the people of Nablus and Hebron break International Law), they are distressed by the manner in which it is implemented and enforced by the IDF (Curfew 1).

To make sure curfew is obeyed IDF has made it its policy to arrest or shoot anyone seen on the streets during curfew hours (2). In a report written by Amnesty International, one family speaks of how they witnessed an unknown man left lying on the streets during curfew because all those who ventured from their homes to try and aid the dying man were shot at by IDF soldiers. The family goes on to describe how neighborhood dogs began to eat the man’s decaying body as the IDF would not allow neighbors or medical personnel to enter the street and claim the body (Amnesty International). During one five month period, B’Tselem reported that 15 Palestinian civilian were killed by the army for leaving their homes during curfew. Of the 15, twelve of them were under the age of 16, the youngest being six years old (PRESSE). Of the 15 killed,

“four Palestinians, three of them children, were killed and 24 injured when Israeli soldiers opened fire on a market in Jenin at a time when Palestinians residents believed the curfew on the city had been lifted” (Hanieh 1).

While the use of curfew has eased over the recent years, it is still reportedly utilized.

Between March 11 and April 13 of this year, the village of Awarta, population 6500, was put under curfew three times while Israeli officials investigated the murder of an Israeli family in a nearby settlement (Democracy 2). While the need of curfew is not in question, one has to wonder if the severity of its restrictions and its enforcement is a necessary “security measure” for the IDF forces.

Works Cited

Amnesty International. "Israel and the Occupied Territories Shielded from scrutiny: IDF violations in Jenin and Nablus." 4 November 2002. Amnesty International. 25 October 2011 .

Bahour, Sam. "The Violence of Curfew." Tikkun (2002): 29.

"Curfew." 6 May 2010. B'teslem. 5 October 2011 .

Democracy, UNESCO Chair on Human Rights and. Right to an Education: The Case of Awarta . Nablus, 2011.

Hanieh, Adam. "West Bank Curfew: Politics by other means." Middle East Report (2002): 1-3.

Murray, Helen. Barriers to Education: The Israeil Military Obstruction of Access to Schools and Universities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Birzeit, July 2004.

oPt, OCHA. Humanitarian Update. United Nations Humanitarian Report. Jerusalem: United Nations Relief and Works Agency, 2003.

PRESSE, AGENCE FRANCE. "Israeli Army 'Kiling Palestinian Children'." 17 October 2002. Sydney Morning Herald. 25 October 2011 .