Bethlehem - Ma'an - Israeli rights group B'Tselem released a report saying Israeli crackdowns on protests in the West Bank were legitimized using a 1967 military order prohibiting demonstrations.

The report, released on Wednesday, details the military legitimization of two orders delivered to the villages of Ni'lin and Bil'in in the early spring, declaring zones used each week for protests against the construction of the separation wall "closed zones," and the rationalization for what rights workers said was a changed attitude of the military "toward the demonstrations and has taken measures with the intent to end them."

Some of the measure detailed in the document included dozens of arrests targeting demonstration organizers as well as international and Israeli activists who travel to the West Bank to support the protest initiatives.

The new measures were put in force on 17 February 2010, the report says, by the Israeli military's OC Central Command, when officials signed two orders of "Declaration Regarding Closing of Area," which classified parts of the two villages closed zones on Fridays, when protests are held weekly.

A second rule for military operations in the West Bank was put through in January, the B'Tselem report reported. Military Order No. 101, of 1967, which, according to the report, prohibits demonstrations in the West Bank.

B'Tselem emphasized that "From the beginning of the Oslo process until this year, the Order had not been enforced, except for its incitement provisions," and said in its position paper on the order, that it violates Israel's "obligation to ensure the right of demonstration under international law," as an occupying power.

Under the Order, B'Tselem reported, "an assembly, procession, or vigil of ten or more persons requires a permit from the commander of military forces in the region if the assembly is for the purpose of 'a political subject, or which might be construed as political, or to discuss such a subject' or, in the case of a procession, 'for a political purpose or for a matter that might be construed as political.' "

The rights group said the use of the order "greatly limits freedom of speech, in all its aspects," particularly given the on the books punishment for violations of the order, at ten years in prison.