What is happening in Palestine & Israel?
We are all familiar with the ceaseless conflict occurring in Palestine and Israel; however, the hardships of the Palestinian people are often ignored by mainstream media. The country of Palestine was the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity, but is now a country of segregated states. The ancient homeland of the Palestinians has been taken away at alarming rates throughout the years following WWII. Palestinians are currently contained to living the in the Gaza Bank, and settlements throughout the West Bank that are walled. From once living freely in their own land they are subjected to work visas, checkpoints, overpriced necessities, and denied access to social benefits. These atrocities have caused many Palestinians to flee to surrounding Arab nations, leaving their homeland.
I was reminded of the situation by coming across a photo essay, by Activestills, from international new source Al Jazeera. The photo essay is titled ‘Checkpoints’ and is about the working conditions for Palestinian men crossing the various checkpoints to look for work in Israel. The journey starts at 3 am in order to travel to the perspective checkpoints. Next the men stand in unsanitary and overcrowded areas before they are cleared for work around 6-7am. In these checkpoints, there have been various instances of men getting crushed and dying in these. In pictures one can see men standing above railings to avoid the person crushing conditions below.
There are eleven checkpoints in Palestine currently, the major ones include: Taraquima where 7,000 to 8,000 workers cross in the town of Hebron, Al-Taybeh where 15,000 cross in the city of Tulkarem, and Qalandia where 6,000 workers cross between the cities of Ramallah and Jerusalem (Aljazeera). The checkpoints are degrading for the Palestinians. They are herded into small narrow corridors like cattle for hours at a time. Their work visas issued by Israel are around $500-700 almost a quarter- third of total income (Aljazeera). Men often stay in these areas for days at a time to avoid going to these checkpoints daily. Personal testimony from Palestinians traveling in and out of these checkpoints is grounding.
“It’s all unjust. We live a life of injustice, But we do not have an alternative”
-Saleh
“Everyone is trying to make a living by working on the Israeli side. They go there without being sure whether or not they will return to their families . God only knows. It’s a very big tragedy.”
– Anonymous
(Quotes from the article Checkpoints cited below)
Some scholars and organizations, including the UN, use the apartheid analogy when describe the state of Israel. This is due to the inability of Palestinians to have Israeli citizenship, voting rights, access to basic necessities without major taxation, restricted living areas and etc… (Aljazeera, Apartheid). With evidence and testimony on the treatment of Palestinian people it is clear that there is an issue that needs to be solved. In order for the separate countries to reconcile there has to be major changes. This can only happen with international pressure and internal debate. The palestinians need to be advocated for; however, instead they are often labeled as terrorists. How can Israel be an ally and supported with international aid when they have practically imprisoned a whole population?
Works Cited
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2018/commuting-through-israeli-checkpoints/index.html
April 5, 2018 at 9:10 pm
I don’t understand what drives entire groups of people to treat others in this way. It seems like a waste of potential to neglect the needs of those who are willing to work. It is inefficient, not to mention inhumane, to create expensive and drawn-out processes to allow people to work in a certain area. Hopefully, something will be done about these conditions.