The West Bank and Jerusalem have witnessed a serious escalation in recent years, characterized by the intensification of military gates and barriers established by the occupying authorities, as part of a systematic policy to control the movement of Palestinians and restrict their geographical, social, and economic connectivity. By mid-2025, the number of military barriers and gates in the West Bank reached 898, including 18 new gates erected since the beginning of that year. In the city of Jerusalem and its suburbs alone, the occupation has established about 88 iron gates, reflecting a deliberate trend to turn these tools into a comprehensive system of siege. These gates are no longer merely "temporary" security measures as the occupation claims, but have become part of the permanent infrastructure that reshapes Palestinian geography to serve the goals of control and isolation, as they hinder Palestinians' access to schools, workplaces, and hospitals, turning their daily lives into a continuous hell.
The implications of this policy are profound, creating a psychologically and socially oppressive reality. On one hand, residents suffer from a loss of freedom and dignity due to their daily searches and humiliation at these barriers, leading to a buildup of anger and frustration. On the other hand, the closure of the gates directly impacts the local economy, where commercial movement is harmed, and farmers incur heavy losses due to the difficulty of transporting their products, in addition to a decline in job opportunities due to disrupted movement between cities. These gates also contribute to severing the ties within the West Bank, causing Palestinian cities to lose their natural connectivity, pushing younger generations towards frustration and despair, which carries serious implications for community stability and cohesion. The most significant impact lies in transforming Palestinian geography into a mosaic of isolated islands, weakening the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state according to international resolutions.
The timing of the installation of more of these gates is not innocent; it comes within a complex political context linked to regional and international transformations, as well as internal Israeli conflicts. Amid increasing international pressure on Israel due to settlement activities and the growing recognition of the Palestinian state, the Israeli government seeks to impose facts on the ground that obstruct any possibility of settlement. Additionally, the intensification of gates serves internal objectives, as Israeli right-wing leaders use the "security" file to justify their policies to their public and protect their ruling coalitions. On a symbolic level, this step reflects the occupation's transition from a phase of indirect control to a phase of managing Palestinian life in its most intricate details, from daily movement to the relationship between villages and cities. It is an attempt to reshape the Palestinian scene in accordance with the logic of power and dominance at a sensitive historical moment in which the occupation seeks to solidify new equations before any upcoming settlement.
The spread of gates and barriers in the West Bank and Jerusalem, which numbered around 898 by mid-2025, including 88 in Jerusalem alone, expresses a systematic Israeli policy that transcends the security dimension to a strategic project aimed at dismantling Palestinian geography and tightening control over the lives of the population. The effects of this system are not limited to hindering daily movement and weakening the economy, but extend to undermining the potential for building a cohesive Palestinian society and a viable independent state. The intensification of gate installations at this particular time reflects the occupation's attempt to impose new political and geographical realities before any possible settlement, and constitutes a clear message that field control is the primary tool for entrenching its settlement and exclusionary project. Thus, the hell of the gates represents not just a humanitarian violation, but a dangerous indicator of the trajectory of the conflict and its future directions.
שתף את דעתך
The Hell of the Checkpoints in Jerusalem and the West Bank: Objectives, Effects, and Implications