Prisoners in their own homeland

The village of Jbara nestles on a hillside, overlooking a fertile valley lined with olive groves. Its 300 Palestinians believe they inhabit the most scenic prison in the world.

A new Israeli military order forces them to seek permission to live in their own homes. It declares Jbara part of a "closed zone" and states that all movement in and out of the area requires a permit. Any visiting relative needs a licence.

All of these permissions are granted at the whim of the Israeli army and are routinely denied. Fourteen other villages, home to 12,000 Palestinians, find themselves trapped inside this zone, where every aspect of life comes under Israeli military control.

"This is the first time in the history of human beings that the owner of a house has to get permission to enter his own home," said Sadiq Oudeh, 47, Jbara's deputy mayor.

Bundle of permits

Last Wednesday, the Israeli civil administration officer in charge of the area summoned Oudeh. He showed the Palestinian a bundle of permits, valid for 12 months, allowing the people of Jbara to stay in their homes. But there were no permits for 20 of the inhabitants, including Oudeh, and he refused to accept any of them.

The "closed zone" falls between Israel's security fence to the East and the "green line", marking the boundary of the West Bank. Designed to exclude Palestinian suicide bombers by sealing the West Bank from Israel, the fence will eventually be 370 miles long.

About 100 miles of it is complete and much of it veers East of the "green line", deep inside Palestinian land. Jbara is two miles inside the West Bank, but finds itself on the Israeli side of the fence, trapped in the "closed zone".

Barbed wire

From beneath the minaret of the village mosque, Jbara's new boundaries are clearly visible. One mile to the East, the giant gash of barbed wire forming the security fence curves across the landscape. Two miles to the West, a winding track patrolled by Israeli armoured cars denotes the "green line".

These landmarks have become prison walls. Issued by Major-General Moshe Kaplinski, commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank, the "Declaration in the Matter of Closing Territory", states: "No person will enter [the closed zone] and no-one will remain there." To gain exemption, everyone living inside the zone above the age of 16 needs permission, renewable every year.

Oudeh believes that Israel intends to clear the "closed zone" of Palestinians before annexing it. "They don't want to expel us by force. They want to put pressure on us to leave of our own will," he said. As the fence grows, so will the "closed zone" and the number of Palestinians affected will climb into the tens of thousands.