Meanwhile In Other Parts Of The World

From Daniel Levy discussing Israel's 60th Anniversary

Israel maintains an elaborate network of obstacles to Palestinian freedom of movement in the West Bank--for the most reliable data visit the website of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs--Occupied Palestinian Territories (OCHA). That closure system includes manned checkpoints, fixed-barriers, earth-mounds and fences--in total they number over 600. These are not, repeat not, checkpoints or obstacles that prevent Palestinians from entering Israel proper--that function is fulfilled by the wall/separation barrier and by crossing terminals. These are physical obstacles to movement whose function is to prevent Palestinians from moving freely within the West Bank--from getting to one village or town to another within the Palestinian areas.

To get a sense of the dimensions involved, the West Bank--home to 2.6 million Palestinians and 600 such obstacles--is smaller than the size of the state of Delaware, the 49th largest state in the Union.

The Israeli army (IDF) maintains this network of restrictions for two ostensible reasons:(1) it helps keep control, keeps tabs on what is going on in the West Bank, provides useful intel, which makes the lives of militants more difficult...etc.; and thus is part of an overall preventive security deployment (2) to protect the freedom of movement of Israelis in the West Bank--mainly the settlers and also the IDF itself. The approximately 260,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank of course face no such restrictions on movement. The IDF is doing its job--as long as there are Israeli citizens in the Occupied Palestinian Territories--settlers--the IDF is duty bound to protect them. They should not be there--but while they are--the IDF provides their defense. Unless and until the occupation ends, this will be the lot of the IDF--a terrible drain in itself on the military--but that is also another story.

The effects--on Palestinian daily life, society, family life, and economic opportunity--are devastating. Oh, and people are very angry--more easily recruited to violence...etc. So all this aggravation, yet the net result is that it actually makes Israel's security worse in the long-term.