Description

By Edo Konrad for 973Mag

IDF re-segregates main road leading to Cave of the Patriarchs, two years after it ostensibly put an end to the policy.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem announced Thursday that the Israeli military has renewed segregation between Jews and Palestinians on the main street leading to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron since January. The military does not allow Palestinians to use the main part of the street and forces Palestinians to use a narrow, unpaved and rough pedestrian passageway.

According to B’Tselem, this policy had been previously implemented between September 2012 to March 2013. It was was temporarily stopped after the organization published a video (above) showing Border Police officers explaining that the main part of the street was for Jews only. The military withdrew the policy only once the video circulated widely and received much media coverage. Until recently, that is.

Since the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs Massacre, in which an Israeli settler by the name of Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 Muslim worshippers, the Israeli military has adopted an official policy of separating Jews and Muslims in Hebron. However, only Palestinians bear the brunt of this policy, which places them under severe restrictions when it comes to travel and movement in downtown Hebron.