The LAW official said the woman had previously been prevented several times from passing through the same checkpoint and had been forced to walk about 300 metres along a dirt road carrying her recently-born baby, her fifth child. Human rights groups have accused the army of harassing and humiliating Palestinians at checkpoints and complained that some incidents have resulted in deaths. Israel has cited security reasons for the blockade it has imposed on Palestinian areas since the start of a Palestininian uprising for independence four months ago. Human rights groups and Palestinians consider it collective punishment. The army places checkpoints at entrances to towns and villages but allows cars to pass along dirt roads nearby.
Soldiers sometimes direct cars to the dirt roads, which lengthen the driver's journey.
More than 380 people, almost all of them Palestinians, have been killed in violence since the start of a Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas which were captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.