News / Palestine

Arab League slams Israeli blockade on Palestinian villages

Wednesday, 07 September 2016 6:13 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 07 September 2016 6:13 AM ]

Israeli soldiers conduct searches in the northern West Bank village of Madama on August 24, 2016. ©AFP

The Arab League has strongly censured the Israeli regime for imposing a blockade over 10 villages in the occupied West Bank, saying such a measure is a violation of international regulations.

The recent Israeli blockade on the villages, located to the south of the city of Nablus, has completely cut them off from the west of the occupied territory, preventing the local residents from either entering the localities or leaving them, Kuwait’s official news agency KUNA reported.

Reacting on Tuesday, the Cairo-based Arab bloc said the move was in line with the Israeli policy of “collective punishment,” which aims to turn the villages into large prisons and undermine the economic fundamentals of the Palestinian residents, according to the report.

“The Israeli occupation authorities persist in stifling the Palestinian residents through intensification of the military barriers with a view to forming small and isolated cantons in contravention of the international laws and conventions, and human rights,” the group added.

Israeli forces conduct searches in the village of Madama in the north of the occupied West Bank on August 24, 2016. ©AFP

Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, and has since been dotting the territory with check posts and barriers, which have severely constrained the Palestinians’ freedom of movement.

The regime’s military also lays sieges on local villages in reaction to purported violence or under the pretext of preempting pending tension.

Besides working to smother Palestinians, the Israeli violations “pose a grave threat to the security and stability of the entire Middle East region” as a whole, the Arab League, meanwhile, said.

Despite the Arab League’s efforts to portray itself as a traditional adversary of Tel Aviv and the upholder of the Palestinian cause, some of its members, particularly Saudi Arabia, have been accused of secretly supporting the regime.

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