The so-called "Separation Wall," which Israel began building in June 2002, did not separate between Palestinians and Israel, for that has already been realized through numerous laws and restrictions that are as old as the Israeli state itself. Instead, the wall created yet more restrictions for Palestinians, who are now left isolated in Apartheid South Africa-style "Bantustans." With hundreds of permanent and "flying" military checkpoints dotting the West Bank, Israel's separation strategy was transformed from isolating all Palestinians at once, into individualized confinement that is aimed at destroying any sense of Palestinian socio-economic cohesion and continuity.
Moreover, the Israeli military "installed iron gates at the entrances to the vast majority of West Bank villages, allowing it to isolate them within minutes and with minimal personnel," according to Israeli rights group, B'Tselem research.
It does not end here, of course. In March 2017, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) approved an amendment to the law that would deny entry to foreign nationals who "knowingly issued a public call to boycott the state of Israel." The "Boycott law" was rooted in a 2011 bill and an Israeli Supreme Court decision (upholding the legal argument in the bill) in 2015.
According to the Israeli website, Globes, in 2018, almost 19,000 visitors to Israel were turned away at the country's various entry points, compared to only 1,870 in 2011. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib will now be added to that dismal statistic.
Every Palestinian, anywhere, is subjected to these restrictions. While some are denied the right to visit their families, others are dying in isolation in besieged areas, in "closed military zones," while separated from one another by massive walls and numerous military checkpoints.
This is the story of Palestinian isolation by Israel that we must not allow to die out, long after the news cycle covering the two Congresswomen's story move on beyond Omar, Tlaib and Israeli transgressions.
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