Today started in a somber fashion for me, with the news that a colleagues mother had passed away suddenly yesterday evening. Death and tragedy are universal, but nothing is quite ordinary when you live under occupation-whether it is driving from one town to the next, or trying to attend a funeral.
The colleague in question is a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and the funeral was set to be held in her home town in the Galilee. Naturally, we all wished to be there, but in reality we all knew very, very few would show up.
For a Palestinian with an Israeli-issued West Bank ID, crossing the Green Line is an impossible task. As I sat at my desk, I could hear conversations all around me, people calling around, asking if there was a way to get around the checkpoints, trying to figure out a way through the maze of barriers and soldiers. No such luck. The hope rested on getting special permits from the occupation’s military command in the settlement of Bet El, a settlement that lay a mere several hundred yards away.
I didn’t bother sending my application; my Israeli-issued Gaza ID meant that I wasn’t allowed to travel within the West Bank itself, let alone cross the Green Line or enter East Jerusalem.
By the end of the day, the military command had decided that of all those who did send in their applications, only one would be allowed in.
None of this came as a surprise to anyone; being denied the right to visit family and friends, whether to celebrate or mourn together (or receive life-saving medical aid, as in Gaza), is an official policy of the Israeli occupation, and has been in place for many years. For Palestinians, it has become as normal as being arbitrarily arrested, having your land confiscated, your home demolished or your right to travel denied.
Related posts:
- A Journey Through Occupation
- Celebrate Alone
- Just another war crime
- Crackdowns and collaborators
- The Beginning of Legal Apartheid?
Sorry to hear about this.
A question, though — assuming a two-state solution were actually enacted, would the result be any different in this case? Instead of it being a border with checkpoints administered by Israelis, it’d simply be a border with checkpoints administered by both sides.
Recall that it used to be much easier for Palestinians to get into Israel… and the result was a far higher number of suicide bombings.
As one Israeli leftist put it to me, “I hate the wall, not only in practice with how it cements land grabs, but there being *any* wall, even in theory… and yet, I wake up every day and say, ‘Thank God for the wall’, because it’s brought an end to the bombings, and whatever the prospects for a lasting peace settlement are now, there would never be *any* prospects as long as the bombings continued.”
I have a hard time imagining there’ll be any easy travel between Israel and Palestine any time soon. Borders are like that.
Posted by Joe | December 2, 2008, 4:36 pmApartheid.
Posted by Will | December 2, 2008, 5:38 pmUh, Will, we’re talking about a *border* here, even if Palestine becomes an independent state. Last I checked, Israeli citizens have a hard time getting into the West Bank, too? None of my Israeli friends were able to come with me into Ramallah when I went.
If Palestine were a separate, independent, abso-fucking-lutely autonomous state, there will still be a wall there or something like it, because NATIONS HAVE BORDERS TOO, not just occupations.
How would Mohammad’s situation be any different for getting to this funeral then?
Posted by Joe | December 2, 2008, 8:58 pm