Palestinians prevented from travelling during Israel election

Israel closed a border crossing from the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, ahead of its crucial parliamentary elections, which will determine whether longtime Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu remains in power.

The closure, which started Tuesday morning, prevents Palestinians from entering Israel as elections begin and will continue through to 10pm local time.

Occupying Israeli forces say the closure will be lifted on Wednesday at midnight.

Netanyahu's hardline ideology and reluctance to slow down illegal settlement growth in the West Bank has played a pivotal role of his campaign.

"I will apply (Israeli) sovereignty, but I don't distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements," he said in an interview to Channel 12 television over the weekend.

Settlements built on land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War are deemed illegal by the international community and their ongoing construction is seen as a major barrier to peace.

Annexation could prove to be the death knell for the two-state solution.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

All Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank are classed as illegal under international law, particularly Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which asserts that "the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".

Israeli forces and settlers routinely attack Palestinians in the occupied territories, demolishing their homes, poisoning their livestock and vandalising their properties.

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