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Palestinians barred from Dead Sea beaches to 'appease Israeli settlers' - Middle East - World - The IndependentPalestinians are being regularly and illegally barred from reaching Dead Sea beaches in the occupied West Bank, according to a Supreme Court petition filed by Israel's leading civil rights organisation.
The Association of Civil Rights (Acri) in Israel is challenging what it says is the frequently imposed ban by the military on Palestinians seeking to swim or relax at beaches in the northern Dead Sea. The salt-saturated sea is the only open water accessible to Palestinians from the otherwise landlocked West Bank.
The petition says that the Israeli military is using the Beit Ha'arava checkpoint on Route 90 the only open access route in the occupied West Bank for travel to the Dead Sea to turn back Palestinians, mainly but not exclusively on weekends and Jewish holidays.
A Palestinian bus driver, Mohammed Ahmed Nuaga'a, described how he was turned back by the military with a party of children, aged between six and 12, on a school trip from the Hebron district to the Dead Sea last month. The outing had been officially co-ordinated with the Palestinian Authority education ministry and included 10 teachers and 15 parents. He returned a few hours later in the hope that the soldiers would relent but they did not do so. "I tried to explain to them that these are young pupils who came from very far to fulfil a big dream to see the sea," he said.