The Israeli army has put the West Bank city of Nablus, and its villages and refugee camps, under siege for the past three weeks, with heavy restrictions on the movement of 430,000 Palestinians residing there.

Israel has closed the main roads with roadblocks and checkpoints to impede traffic and has largely prevented residents from exiting or entering the city.

The strict closure has affected every aspect of daily life and has completely disrupted commercial activities in the city, which is normally a major commercial hub in the occupied West Bank.

Since the siege, traders in the city have reported a sharp decline in income, employees have struggled to access their workplace, and farmers have been denied access to their land.

The siege has also hampered the education and health sectors in Nablus and surrounding areas.

“Territorial fragmentation of the occupied West Bank and the creation of isolated enclaves are at the core of Israel’s settler colonial endeavour,” Alaa Al-Tartir, policy adviser for Al-Shabaka, a Palestinian think tank, told The New Arab.

“It’s been implementing these policies for decades, which allows Israel to impose a siege, like the one currently imposed on Nablus, quickly and easily.”

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