checkpoints

An Israeli soldier stands next to an ambulance after the army curfew was lifted for three hours, in the southern neighborhoods of the West Bank city of Hebron (Al-Khalil), January 21, 2026. (Mosab Shawer/Activestills)

Israel’s roadblocks are choking emergency care in the West Bank

With proliferating closures, checkpoints, and settler attacks, Palestinian medics say routine ambulance journeys have become life-or-death ordeals.

By Shatha Yaish August 13, 2026

Palestinians use a rope to climb over the separation barrier from the al-Ram village into East Jerusalem, January 12, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The Palestinians dying for work

Israel shut its borders to West Bank laborers after Oct. 7. But desperation means thousands are finding a way in — and Israeli police keep shooting them.

By Charlotte Ritz-Jack June 12, 2026

View of the road leading to the Allenby Bridge (King Hussein) crossing, September 24, 2025. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

The humiliating ordeal of traveling abroad as a West Bank Palestinian

When Israel closed Allenby Bridge without warning, my journey to Istanbul turned into 36 hours of missed flights, uncertainty, and endless waiting.

By Ghaith J. April 7, 2026

Latest

Palestinians take part in a mass wedding ceremony in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, August 18, 2018. (Flash90)

Why divorce rates are soaring in the West Bank

A spiraling economic crisis, shrinking job prospects, and Israeli movement restrictions are putting a strain on relationships and destabilizing families.

By Aseel Mafarjeh February 26, 2026

Palestinian residents and activists gather for a screening of "Coexistence my Ass!" in late December. (Mohanad Qufisha)

In Hebron’s hyper-militarized Old City, a Palestinian cinema opens its doors

The city's first movie theater in nearly a century is defying Israeli movement restrictions and settler attacks to screen political films for locals and activists.

By Basel Adra February 2, 2026

Mourners at the gravesite of slain Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, including his cousins Alaa Hathaleen (left) and Tariq Hathaleen (right), in the West Bank village of Umm Al-Khair, Aug. 7, 2025. (Oren Ziv)

PHOTOS: Awdah Hathaleen laid to rest after Israel withheld body for 10 days

Israel finally allowed the burial of the Palestinian activist shot by a settler in Umm Al-Khair, only to disrupt his funeral with checkpoints and restrictions.

By Oren Ziv August 7, 2025

Palestinians wait at closed Israeli gates at the entrance to Hebron, in the West Bank, June 14, 2025. (Mosab Shawer)

With Iran war as pretext, Israel suffocates the West Bank

After striking Tehran, the army closed hundreds of gates to seal Palestinians inside towns and strand them on roads — proof of annexation in all but name.

By Shatha Yaish June 19, 2025

Palestinian Muslim worshippers wait to cross the Qalandiya checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem to attend the Friday prayer during the holy month of Ramadan at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s old city, April 5, 2024. (Wahaj Bani Moufleh/ActiveStills)

For pregnant Palestinian women, checkpoints are a matter of life and death

When I went into labor, I put off leaving home for hours, fearing Israeli soldiers and settlers. We reached the hospital in Hebron in time, but not all are so lucky.

By Hala H. June 10, 2025

Displaced Palestinians make their way back to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip via the Netzarim Corridor, Jan. 28, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

Weeks after Israeli withdrawal, Gazans still search for the missing in Netzarim

Thousands of Palestinians have made the arduous journey across Gaza's central corridor, as Civil Defense workers slowly uncover human remains.

By Ruwaida Amer March 4, 2025

Bassam Assous holds the body of his granddaughter, Laila Al-Khatib, after she was killed in her home by Israeli forces, Jan. 26, 2025. (Wahaj Bani Moufleh/Activestills)

After Gaza ceasefire, Israel turns its firepower on the West Bank

Two-year-old Laila Al-Khatib is the youngest victim of Israel's military campaign in Jenin, while road closures suffocate the entire territory.

By Basel Adra January 28, 2025

Large boulders block the entry and exit of cars outside Beit Jala, occupied West Bank. (Yuval Abraham)

Settlers and army blocking West Bank roads to Palestinians

Makeshift barriers erected since October 7 have sealed off dozens of Palestinian communities. Those who try to cross risk being shot.

By Yuval Abraham February 23, 2024

Israeli security forces guard as Palestinians make their way through a checkpoint to attend Friday prayer of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, April 29, 2022. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

The permit regime is Oslo’s enduring legacy. It must be abolished

The separation logic enshrined by the Oslo Accords birthed a cruel system of Israeli control, whose security justifications collapsed into openly racist ones.

By Yael Berda September 21, 2023

A Palestinian man looks over the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim during a protest-tent action against a bill that would annex the settlement bloc to Israel, Al 'Ezariya, West Bank, January 20, 2017. (Anne Paq/Activestills)

‘Don’t raise your voice — you’re not in Britain anymore’

From the Jordan crossing to the Jerusalem checkpoint, my return to Palestine was marred by the daily humiliations of life under Israeli occupation.

By Hamza Yusuf August 29, 2023