Was Hebron Street "Intentionally" closed to Palestinians?

Today is Day 14,258 of the Maintenance of the Immoral (and Illegal) West Bank Settlements and almost the 40th anniversary of the start of the immoral (and illegal) occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Micah.6:8 “He has told you, O man, Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God

Here is an recent, April 18, 2007, article from Haaretz on the inability of Palestinians to have access to one of the main shopping streets of Hebron for 6 years.

w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 18:14 18/04/2007
IDF: Was Hebron street 'intentionally' closed to Palestinians?
By Akiva Eldar

Israel Defense Forces Central Command head Yair Naveh has appointed an IDF officer to investigate whether Shuhada Street in Hebron has been intentionally closed to non-Jewish pedestrians for the past six years.

The IDF has closed the street, located in the old market, to non-Jews since the beginning of the second intifada, citing the need to protect the Jewish population there.

However, the IDF has not issued an official order calling for the closure. Following a petition by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the army claimed last December that the closure had been "unintentional."

The closure has made life difficult for Palestinian residents of Hebron, including the elderly, who have to take long detours through neighboring yards and residences. Palestinians are still not allowed to use Shuhada Street.

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United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination Signed by Israel 7 March 1966: Ratified by Israel: 3 January 1979

In compliance with the fundamental obligations laid down in article 2 of this Convention, States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights:
..........
(d) Other civil rights, in particular:
(i) The right to freedom of movement and residence within the border of the State;
.........
(e) Economic, social and cultural rights, in particular: (i) The rights to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, to protection against unemployment, to equal pay for equal work, to just and favourable remuneration;
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(f) The right of access to any place or service intended for use by the general public, such as transport hotels, restaurants, cafes, theatres and parks.

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Keeping in mind that within the borders of Hebron, one of the biggest Arab cities in the West Bank, are 120,000 Palestinians. In the old city of Hebron, there are 650 Jewish Israeli squatters and 30,000 Palestinians while around Kiryat Arba the squatterment founded by Rabbi Levinger near Hebron, there are an additional 9,200 squatters. What possible justification can there be for closing this street other than a collective punishment for the acts of some during the intifata or to "protect" the 650 JISH?

And what kind of absurd distinction is there between "intentional" or "unintentional"? With a thousand IDF soldiers and 150,000 distressed and frustrated Palestinians having to be unable to open their businesses and earn a living for six years is the IDF saying that they did not notice that the street was closed?

The government of Israel should dismantle the Jewish settlement in Hebron.

Deutoronomy 16:20 – “Justice, justice shall you pursue that you may live and inherit the land which God gave you” and the footnote in the 1980 Hertz Edition “(T)here is international justice, which demands respect for the personality of every national group, and proclaims that no people can of right be robbed of its national life or territory, its language or spiritual heritage.