Israel imposed, especially after the second Intifada (2000), severe restrictions on the mobility of the Palestinian population with more than 550 checkpoints (earth mounds, road gates, roadblock walls, road barriers and trenches), as well as with the construction of the Apartheid. Wall, more than 800 kilometres long and declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2011, where 85% of its route goes into West Bank territory, confining more than 10,000 Palestinians in the so-called Seam Zone7 (Exclusion Zone). But also bureaucratic obstacles such as limitations on permits for movement and access to certain areas, the designation of restricted or closed areas or family reunification.
In the case of the Gaza Strip, the blockade imposed by Israel since 2007 affects 2.5 million inhabitants, imposing severe restrictions not only on mobility, but also on access to food, household goods, construction materials and all types of medical treatment.
In March 2022, Israel passed a law denying naturalisation to Palestinians from the occupied territories who marry an Israeli citizen, formalising a decree that had been enacted in 2003 and renewed annually. Spouses from other 'enemy states', such as Lebanon, Syria and Iran, are also barred from family reunification with Israeli citizens and residents.
Israel includes its longstanding refusal to even contemplate the possibility of the right of return for Palestinian refugees who were forced to flee their homes in 1948, even for those with family members left behind. However, what is often referred to as the 'demographic threat' has less and less to do with the plight of Palestinians abroad and more to do with the fate of those who remain in Israel and the occupied territories. 16.
For East Jerusalem residents who marry West Bank residents, the barriers to family reunification are just as cumbersome, and the process takes an average of ten years, if the application is successful. Meanwhile, children born in East Jerusalem to West Bank parents have been denied registration in East Jerusalem despite being born there. These children are thus forced to live in the city without legal status, a situation that limits their access to health care and education. Moreover, Israel has created an additional requirement, requiring East Jerusalem residents to prove that their "centre of life" is in the city in order to retain residency. Despite this, thousands of 'Jerusalemites' have had their residency revoked due to arbitrary 'violations' of this provision, making many reluctant to leave the city, even to briefly visit relatives in other occupied territories, for fear of having their residency status revoked.
Residents of the Gaza Strip face even more appalling circumstances. They are basically forbidden to leave the territory, even to visit their relatives, tend their land, work or study in the West Bank and abroad. The fact that Israel prevents Palestinians from entering or leaving the Palestinian territory demonstrates the level of control it exerts over this population. 17.