Checkpoint Causes Iftar Traffic Tangle along Wadi Al-Nar Road

11 October 2007

Bethlehem – Ma'an – Israeli forces caused a massive traffic jam on the West Bank's main north-south thoroughfare Wednesday afternoon, stopping hundreds of Palestinians on their way to Iftar, the meal that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast during the moth of Ramadan.

Ma'an's correspondent, who was delayed at the checkpoint on the Wadi Al-Nar road reported, "About half an hour before Iftar time, Israeli soldiers detained buses and taxis with Palestinian citizens and students for a long time. The soldiers deliberately inspected all passengers very slowly and in a provocative manner causing a traffic jam which extended kilometers on both sides."

Palestinians stopped along the road said Israeli forces have often slowed traffic to a stop just before Iftar, in what they say is a deliberate provocation.

Barred from Jerusalem most West Bank residents are forced to take the Wadi Al-Nar road, which snakes through the jagged mountains east of Jerusalem.