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Qalandia Checkpoint Nightmare for Palestinians
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A library photo of a Palestinian youth maltreated by an Israeli soldier at the Qalandia crossing.
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By
Youssef Al-Shaib, IOL Correspondent
RAMALLAH,
September 19, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Palestinian sufferings are
already swelling at a dozen Israeli military checkpoints across the
occupied territories, but the occupation troops are twisting the knife
quite further at the maximum security Qalandia crossing between the
West Bank city of Ramallah and Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem).
"It
has turned our lives upside down and imposed itself on our movement as
we weigh how long we have to spend at the crossing," famed
Palestinian director Subhi Al-Zubeidi told IslamOnline.net Monday,
September 19.
Zubeidi
portrayed his personal experience with the checkpoint and how it
became part of his everyday life in his 2001 Qalandia Crossing
documentary.
"We
woke up to this new reality in 2001 when my wife gave birth to our
daughter as she had to cross the checkpoint every day traveling
between Ramallah and Al-Quds."
The
crossing is a line of six checkpoints stretching across 30 meters and
the Palestinians have to undergo provocative and humiliating searches
by Israeli soldiers, says IOL’s correspondent.
The
Palestinians also have to cross three electronic gates and only those
with Israeli permissions will be allowed to enter Al-Quds.
Humiliation
Israeli
humiliations and provocations include leaving Palestinians stuck at
the electronic gates for hours under the excuse of power outage and
giving the patients extremely hard time.
Nevine
Khalil could not help but deliver her baby near the notorious
checkpoint after occupation troops had intentionally obstructed her
way.
"I
was in labor and a female Israeli soldier insisted on frisking all
people queuing before me," she told IOL.
"I
had to go to a hospital in the immediate vicinity in Ramallah but gave
birth to my baby Abdullah in the taxi."
"If
this happened to an Israeli or a foreign woman elsewhere, the
government would be grilled or even unseated," her husband Jawwad
added furiously.
"But
our dignity is downtrodden by the Israeli occupation troops and we are
treated like slaves."
Some
Palestinians are now mulling to submit a petition to the Supreme
Israeli Court to dismantle the "illegal" crossing, though
analysts do not except such a move to pay off.
The
Israeli army has expanded the crossing to include a military camp and
a park for the cars of the officers and employees.
Israel
is further planning to turn the crossing in the future into a gate in
its controversial West Bank separation wall.
Observers
see the Israeli move as part of its plan to judaize Al-Quds.
The
Israeli cabinet approved on July 10 a revised route of the West Bank
barrier, which would leave around a quarter of the Palestinian
residents in Al-Quds cut off from the rest of the holy city.
Israel
occupied Al-Quds in the 1967 Middle East War and later annexed the
city in a move not recognized by the world community or UN
resolutions.
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