Israeli forces have set up temporary checkpoints in the occupied West Bank, subjecting Palestinians to new restrictions.
The forces set up checkpoints at the entrances of the two villages of Madama and Burin, Ma’an news agency reported on Sunday.
They now inspect the Palestinians traveling in and out of the villages and impede their movements.
The area around the two villages has been a site of settler violence and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces.
Last month, Israeli settlers threw stones at Palestinian school children and attacked a local high school.
Israeli settlers regularly launch attacks against Palestinians in what is referred to “price tag” attacks. Price tag attacks are acts of vandalism and violence against Palestinians and their property as well as against Islamic holy sites.
Israel’s recent move came after an Israeli settler was attacked while traveling with his vehicle on a road between the villages and the illegal settlement of Yitzhar.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank including East Jerusalem al-Quds in 1967.
The UN regards the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.
