Restrictions blocking Palestinians from entering the Jordan Valley will be lifted in May, Defense Minister Amir Peretz's bureau has informed the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
The ACRI wrote to the defense minister in December 2006, demanding that limitations on movement in the area be rescinded.
Starting in 2005, the Israel Defense Forces has been prohibiting movement by Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, which constitutes about a third of the area of the West Bank. The order excluded Palestinians registered as Jordan Valley residents - approximately 27,000 people - but included residents of Jericho. Exceptions were also made for a small number of people who received limited permits from the Civil Authority, or those working in Jordan Valley settlements.
Most of the land owned by or leased to Palestinian villagers in the mountains west of the valley is located in the valley, and local farming was hard-hit by the prohibition. Shepherds from mountain villages could not take their sheep to pasture in the valley, or keep their families together there if their registered address was not in the valley.
Thousands of Palestinians who used to work in the valley also lost their jobs. Palestinians who wanted to go to Jordan via the Allenby Bridge, east of Jericho, also faced problems.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/852289.html
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