The Euromed Observatory for Human Rights considered today, Saturday, that the Israeli military roadblocks in the occupied West Bank are death traps for the Palestinians.
The Observatory (a Geneva-based non-governmental organization) said in a statement that "dozens of Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank do not divide them not only into isolated cantons, but rather become death traps for Palestinians, just because they are suspected of committing any violations, which causes them to kill immediately." . He stressed that the martyrdom of the young Ahmed Erekat, last Tuesday, by the bullets of the Israeli army "is only a clear example of the systematic extrajudicial executions of Palestinians against these checkpoints." He stated that Erekat (27 years old) was killed, allegedly, when he rammed his car at the Israeli "Container" checkpoint in the town of Abu Dis, near occupied Jerusalem, which led the Israeli forces to target him by firing several bullets, which led to his killing immediately . The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory called for an independent and immediate investigation into the killing of Erekat, including a complete examination of his car and the interrogation of the soldiers involved in his death, with the necessity of the immediate release of Erekat´s body . He stressed, "This act amounts to the crime of extrajudicial execution of an unarmed Palestinian, who was not a deadly threat to Israeli soldiers, before or after he was shot." He demanded that "Israel dismantle the checkpoints and barriers between Palestinian cities and villages, and guarantee full freedom of movement for the Palestinians." On Tuesday, Erekat was killed when the Israeli army opened fire on a vehicle he was traveling at at the "Container" checkpoint, north of Bethlehem, in the south of the West Bank.
