Since 2003, the Israeli military has imposed a draconian permit regime in the West Bank areas trapped between the separation wall and the Green Line (the armistice line between Israel and the West Bank), an area it refers to as „the Seam Zone“. The permit regime applies to Palestinians only; Israelis and tourists do not require a permit to enter the Seam Zone or stay in it. Palestinians who live in the Seam Zone or wish to enter it in order to tend to their lands, visit relatives or conduct business, are forced to obtain a permit, subject to the regulations of a stifling and highly bureaucratic military mechanism, which dictates a myriad of conditions for the receipt of permits to enter and stay in the Seam Zone.

In March 2016, a Palestinian resident of the village Qaffin submitted a request for an entry permit to the Seam Zone for agricultural purposes, in order to cultivate land owned by his family for generations. The man, who had previously received a number of permits for the very same plot, received no response to his request for several months…