They were holding it up today. Hot. An assortment of people. Palestinians, Korean tourists, a woman who appears something other than Arab with her son, and my dumb ass.
Letting us into the x-ray/metal detector area in waves. They do this on purpose; hold up the line to build a backlog, and then let too many into the small space.
An old Baba is in front of me emptying his pockets into the plastic receptacle for the x-ray conveyor. You can fit 2 of these trays on the conveyor at a time. He’s taking forever, so as soon as the first tray goes in, the non-Arab woman and her son (probably like 15-16) places the tray in front of the old man’s because there’s nowhere else to put their shit down. People, self included, are waiting for space to clear to place their belongings because people keep trying to push in from behind.
Baba is angry now for placing the tray in front of the one with his belongings in it. He shoves the tray at her’s and starts to shout. At this point I realize that the woman is Russian. Her young son, however, is speaking perfect Arabic. I suspect she is married to a Palestinian man and lives here. They are now arguing with the man. Within 5 seconds of this whole interaction beginning, the old man fucking backhands her forehead. Not incredibly hard, but hard enough to violate her. By this point I’m right up behind the both of them. The son is not having it, and neither am I. He’s yelling at him, and I’m holding back with only a “What are you doing?!” Baba walks thru the metal detector.
I walk through the metal detector. The son walks thru the metal detector. I grab my bag and walk ahead for the next turnstile, but I can see the son and the old man getting in each other’s face in front of the Israelis view port. The exit turnstile is now locked. The woman is sobbing and some point says “No, I’m not a tourist!”
Other men in the checkpoint area are trying to calm her, but it’s loaded with the patriarchal enabling, “He didn’t mean it”. NO ASSHOLE, HE FUCKING MEANT IT. I’m not saying anything because I don’t speak enough Arabic to really be clear about it, but it’s also not a good look for the American who is gonna get the wave thru the final checkpoint turnstile because of the blue passport to be yelling at a Palestinian. But then you have the added layer of them trying to bring her down because now the fucking soldier is coming. Fortunately and ironically, he is the calmest of them all. He talks to them, everyone calms down, and we walk out to the next area.
But, now it’s a shift change- which also takes forever because Israelis are in no hurry to not fuck the dozen+ people that have been waiting already. The first people that try to go through, a woman, her son (about 12-13), and her baby who looks only a few months old, is denied. She then begs the guard on the other side to let her thru. They turn her away. Some how, the angry old man has since made it to the front of the line during the reshuffle. Lines aren’t really a thing here...I’m standing in the back with the Russian woman in her son. Everyone else goes thru but the 3 of us. I see her place her ID on the biometric card reader and give her fingerprint. You only do this if you’re a registered denizen of the West Bank. Her son is waved through as well. I finally get there and it’s some blue eyed blonde hair Zionist taking his job seriously today.
Other men in the checkpoint area are trying to calm her, but it’s loaded with the patriarchal enabling, “He didn’t mean it”. NO ASSHOLE, HE FUCKING MEANT IT. I’m not saying anything because I don’t speak enough Arabic to really be clear about it, but it’s also not a good look for the American who is gonna get the wave thru the final checkpoint turnstile because of the blue passport to be yelling at a Palestinian. But then you have the added layer of them trying to bring her down because now the fucking soldier is coming. Fortunately and ironically, he is the calmest of them all. He talks to them, everyone calms down, and we walk out to the next area.
But, now it’s a shift change- which also takes forever because Israelis are in no hurry to not fuck the dozen+ people that have been waiting already. The first people that try to go through, a woman, her son (about 12-13), and her baby who looks only a few months old, is denied. She then begs the guard on the other side to let her thru. They turn her away. Some how, the angry old man has since made it to the front of the line during the reshuffle. Lines aren’t really a thing here...I’m standing in the back with the Russian woman in her son. Everyone else goes thru but the 3 of us. I see her place her ID on the biometric card reader and give her fingerprint. You only do this if you’re a registered denizen of the West Bank. Her son is waved through as well. I finally get there and it’s some blue eyed blonde hair Zionist taking his job seriously today.
This shit is LAYERED in its components of oppression. Sexism, Fascism, Linguicism...who knows what else. The intent of the checkpoints to agitate ALL of these layers in what is nothing less than a powder keg. They’re here to destroy you...or agitate you to destroy each other.
