New Checkpoints

One of the good news bits of information I learned in Israel when I was there in December last year was the recent improvements made to the checkpoints through which Palestinians pass to get into Israel.

While the task of separating Israeli and Palestinian towns is moving toward completion with the security fence, the burden of preventing terrorist infiltration into Israel is falling on the 28 checkpoints that Israel is improving to facilitate the flow of people and goods between the two sides.

The improvements have two objectives in mind: (1) to protect Israelis from ravenous suicide bombers and (2) to make the process of passing through the checkpoints as bearable as possible for the Palestinians.

New improvements include simple steps which should have been put into place a long time ago – such as separating woman from the men. Woman now line-up in the queue with children and adults over 60. They often pass through the terminal in 5 minutes or less. Palestinian woman now have only Israeli woman checking their identity cards – they no longer need to remove their veils in front of men.

The new terminal at Kalandia (between Ramalla and Jerusalem) has been the focus of a 30 million Israeli Shekel investment. (The Shekel is just a bit stronger than the Rand.) Palestinians now pass through the Kalandia checkpoint without any physical interaction with an Israeli. The Palestinians move through a turnstile and step into a metal detector where an advanced scanning machine captures an entire body picture. They then proceed to a reinforced concrete booth where an Israeli sits behind a bulletproof barrier of glass. The Palestinian holds the ID card up against the glass so that the Israeli can check their identity. If all is well the Palestinian passes through into Israel without coming close to an Israeli other than the one behind the glass in the booth.

Around Jerusalem alone some 220 000 Palestinians pass into Israel each day. 11 new checkpoints are being built to cope with this traffic.

The Erez crossing in Gaza is also receiving an expensive facelift, to the tune of 150 million Israeli Shekels. The aim is to eventually move to a full remote control system, where no Israeli should even talk to a Palestinian never-mind touch him.

At Erez and Kalandia, Palestinians who regularly pass through the checkpioints will receive biometric cards which they will be able to swipe through scanners to allow them to easily proceed though the security measures nearly unabated by an Israeli.

Since March this year, the Jerusalem checkpoints have been manned by police and not soliders, part of the policy attempting to reduce the friction between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians. Many of the checkpoints will be manned by private security companies whose guards will be given an intensive three week training course which will include lessons in Arabic as well as directives on how to behave toward the Palestinians.

Israelis are in a unique situation where they attempt to allow citizens of a Palestinian Authority sworn to its destruction with the opportunity to enter Israel on a daily basis.

Israel could easily decide to forbid any Palestinian from entering Israel at all, instead they focus on a solution of compromise which intends to allow Palestinians into Israel whilst still providing maximum security for Israeli citizens.

Comments

[Just a Caring Individual]

hmmm...looks like my comment didnt come through.

said that the worst zionist is the one that pretends to car about others. obviously our friends steve & mike have never actually been to a checkpoint to witness the barbaric beating unleashed by their people.

[Gary]

Please remove the messages from the racist Israel-hater , pro-terrorist
'just a caring individual'
Please ban the Commie who supports the mass murder of Israeli women and children.

[Mike]

Just a caring individual, I have been to numerous checkpoints in the territories over a number of years (before and during the intifada). Don’t believe they are any more barbaric that the security checks Israelis go through at the entrance to shopping centres and bus stations. In fact I was in Jordan last December. And guess what they also have check points. Say old Arab women having their worldly possession thrown on the floor and searched by the Jordanian officers. Security is horrible but in the world in which we live it is unfortunately necessary.

I suppose then by your definition I am the worst kind of Zionist. For a do care deeply for the suffering of others including the Palestinians.

Gary, as I said to Gersh, we are not in the business of banning. We believe that this is a forum for people to express their ideas freely. If you disagree with just a caring individual’s comments you have the freedom to rebut them. You sound no better than the communists you hate so much. This blog is not the Zionist equivalent of Pravda.

[gersh]

Gary. Please read my concluding post on the comments from Afrikaner Zionist. I can repost it if you want.

[Gary]

Yes, gersh I did read your comments. It seems in your book it is ok to say what you want about Israelis and 'Zionists' but not about Black Communists!