This article was originally published by Maan News and is republished with permission.

The governor of Bethlehem, Salah Al Ta'mari, said on Sunday that the Israeli government has increased the number of military checkpoints in the Bethlehem area of the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

Ta'mari said that the Israeli military procedures are destroying the daily lives of residents of the governorate.

The soldiers humiliate Palestinians forced to cross the checkpoints and detain them for hours without justification, said Ta'mari.

Ta'mari said that reports in the press about a reduction in the number of West Bank checkpoints are false.

The allegedly 'temporary' checkpoints in the governorate separate Bethlehem from the surrounding villages and the southern West Bank city of Hebron, says Ta'mari.

Ta'mari noted that the checkpoints are erected along with Israeli incursions into Bethlehem, and at the same time land is confiscated, and the construction of the separation Wall continues.