ABSTRACT
This morning I went on my first “Checkpoint Watch.” Similar in style to border crossings between countries, checkpoints are barriers manned by soldiers or border police to restrict pedestrian and vehicular mobility. However, unlike normal border crossings, most checkpoints in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are installed within the West Bank and Gaza, not around them. The Israeli government claims checkpoints are necessary to prevent Palestinian attacks on Israelis, but checkpoints primarily restrict Palestinian movement between Palestinian cities and villages, not between the Palestinian Territories and Israel.
