(RNS) — Restricting the movement of people and goods has been a consistent, troubling violation of Palestinians’ human rights under Israeli occupation. While these restrictions have escalated in a big way since Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing war in Gaza, many expected they would loosen up now that a ceasefire has been declared. We are now on the eve of the second phase of the ceasefire, to begin with the reopening of the Rafah crossing point between Gaza and Egypt.
A lack of enough Israeli staff at the King Hussein Bridge between the West Bank and Jordan has resulted in more suffering. I have crossed the bridge in the West Bank monthly for the past 27 years. This year, Palestinians returning from spending their winter holidays with loved ones in Jordan had to set up tents as they waited for their turn to return. The bridge crossing is supposed to be open 24 hours a day, at the initiative of the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, but has not been restored to that schedule. Bridge crossings to Jordan are closed on Saturdays, although the Israeli airports continue to operate 24 hours daily without any restrictions on Friday afternoons and Saturdays, when religious Jews observe Shabbat.
And for the people of Jerusalem, there are few signs of change. Israeli checkpoints continue to have long lines, especially for travelers from Ramallah and Bethlehem to Jerusalem.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said publicly that Israel gives priority to supporting and easing the lives of Christians. That has been debunked by several experts, and the weekend of Jan. 9 to 11 saw further evidence of the false promises made by the Israeli prime minister to U.S. television audiences.
This past weekend, the new bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land was inaugurated in the Old City of Jerusalem, but the event was marred by the absence of many Palestinian Christian parishioners — especially from the Bethlehem area, where the Lutheran church has numerous congregations — amid travel challenges.
The new bishop, Imad Musa Haddad, himself a resident of Bethlehem, was given a six-month temporary permit to travel to Jerusalem. While the permit has no time limit, it states that he is not allowed to stay overnight in the Holy City, where traditionally, Lutheran bishops have enjoyed housing at the church headquarters, meters away from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The mother of the bishop almost missed the happy event, as she had been denied a travel permit due to unknown security reasons. She finally received a short-term permit that stated she was allowed to spend the needed hours at the inauguration, despite an alleged security restriction on her. We don’t know what these security reasons were, but some speculated she might have previously received a permit and failed to register her return in time, which is seen in Israel as a major security violation.
The inauguration took place with many foreign church leaders who were ushered into the church by the two Lutheran-based scout bands in the Bethlehem area. However, the director of the band, Elias Gharib, from Beit Sahour in the West Bank, was not provided a travel permit, also due to unknown security reasons. Twelve members of the Talitha Kumi School scouts also were denied travel permits.
At the same time, Christian schools in Jerusalem have gone on strike, objecting to the Israeli authorities’ refusal to grant their teachers from the Bethlehem and Ramallah areas permission to travel to their schools. A statement from the Christian Educational Institutions in Jerusalem said 171 teachers and administrative staff lacked sufficient travel permits, with some given permits for certain days that exclude Saturday — a school day for Christian schools in Jerusalem. And local teachers say that Israel wants to force Christian schools to work on Sundays — a business day for Jewish Israelis — despite a tradition that goes back decades, if not centuries.
The ability of people and goods to move is a basic right guaranteed in the United Nations’ Universal Human Rights Charter and by the Fourth Geneva Convention, which deals with the actions of military powers in the case of a prolonged military occupation. But movement to and from Jerusalem is further compounded by Israel’s unilateral 1967 decision to annex East Jerusalem. Almost all the world powers and UN member states have refused to recognize the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem, which they still consider Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
While Palestinians are striving for freedom from occupation and the ability to determine their own future in their own state, the very minimum they need today is to be treated with respect and dignity. Denying Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians, the ability to travel without restriction to the Holy City of Jerusalem and other locations is not only a violation of a basic right, but a show of lack of respect and dignity. The time has come to end arbitrary Israeli travel restrictions and the overused excuse of security to allow for the most basic Palestinian human rights.
(Daoud Kuttab is the publisher of Milhilard.org, a news site focused on Christians in Palestine, Israel and Jordan. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)
