This Israeli policy constitutes collective punishment of hundreds of thousands of innocent people who are suspected of no wrongdoing. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared immediately after the Kiryat Arba attack that a lockdown would be imposed on the attacker’s village, Bani Na’im, that work permits given to members of his clan would be revoked, and that his home was now slated for demolition by explosion. These statements, along with the nature of the restrictions imposed, indicate that this group punishment is an ostentatious act of vengeance taken by Israeli authorities for domestic political reasons, at the expense of Palestinian residents in the Hebron area.

Israeli officials use the division of the West Bank into Areas A, B and C to argue that the occupation has ended in much of the West Bank and that Palestinians are free to manage their own affairs. Yet Israel’s ability to effortlessly disrupt the routine of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, most of whom live in areas purportedly under the control of the Palestinian Authority, once again proves that Israel still rules the entire West Bank and decides the fate of its residents.