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<h1 class="article-title">Israeli Forces Turn East Jerusalem
Neighborhood into Prison</h1>
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<span class="article-details">
<span class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part1.03070703.09090008@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> Monday May 04, 2015 17:24</span><span
class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part2.03060107.05050409@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> by IMEMC News & Agencies</span></span> <br>
<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imemc.org/article/71459">http://www.imemc.org/article/71459</a></small></small></b><br>
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<blockquote class="article-intro">Israeli forces have sealed the
main entrance to the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Zaayyem,
"locking up more than 6,000 Palestinians in a large prison," local
residents say.</blockquote>
An iron gate set up by Israeli forces has been completely closed for
ten days, head of al-Zaayyem local council Naim Sub Labantold Ma'an
News Agency, on Monday.<br>
<br>
Israeli forces first set up the gate near a military checkpoint at
the main entrance to al-Zaayyem in late March, citing security
concerns.<br>
<br>
The soldiers have controlled the gate since then, Sub Laban said,
opening and closing it whenever they want to restrict the movement
of schoolchildren, businessmen and others who need to go in and out
every day.<br>
<br>
Sub Laban added that Israeli forces had opened the gate for several
hours on Sunday afternoon, and again for two hours on Monday
morning, but that otherwise the gate had been closed for ten days.<br>
<br>
When the gate is closed, residents of the neighborhood, who have
described the closure as "collective punishment" are forced to use
an alternative route of dirt roads about five kilometers long.<br>
<br>
When the gate was first set up, Israeli authorities claimed it would
remain open all the time "except when there is a dangerous security
situation," Sub Laban said.<br>
<br>
Abu Mahmoud Shweiki, an ice cream distributor who sells to stores in
al-Zaayyem, said that he now has to drive his truck over a long dirt
road every day in order to load and unload his goods.<br>
<br>
Schoolchildren also said that they have been forced to walk a long
route along dirt roads in order to reach their schools every day.
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