Palestinian security sources said the Israeli forces set up military checkpoints at all entrances that connect Qalqilyah to nearby cities and villages and barred Palestinians from leaving or entering the city.

The sources added that the soldiers also made checkpoints at the entrances of the village of Izbet Al-Tabib, east of Qalqilyah.

The sources said that soldiers barred hundreds of foreign and Israeli activists from entering the village to participate in an anti-separation wall rally in the village.

The sources said that the activists “were forced to use alternative roads, walk through mountains to enter the village by avoiding Israeli checkpoints.”

Bayan Al-Tabib, the head of the village council, said that Israeli forces raided the village and ordered the residents to remove a protest tent.

Israel confirmed the move and said that closure of the village came after “information of Palestinians’ intention to organize a huge rally.”

Israel made the decision to build the separation wall in 2002.

Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in September 2007 that the construction of the wall caused severe damage to residents of the village and demanded the government map out an alternative route for the wall.

However, six years after the ruling, Palestinian officials voiced despair over the international failure to stop the construction of the snake-shaped wall that has swallowed large areas of the Palestinian territories.