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Checkpoint, Game, Set, Match a Short Walk Mixed With a Long History Makes Bitter Brew
By Rami G. Kouri, Pacific News Service, July 13, 2001

"Checkpoint" sounds like a simple and straightforward mix of two simple words, but for Palestinians who are forced to spend hours making a trip that should take 20 minutes, each day as heavily armed soldiers stand by -- not checking anything -- the checkpoint is at once a source of humiliation and the fuel for continued resistance. PNS commentator Rami G. Kouri is a Palestinian-Jordanian syndicated political columnist, author, and television talk show host.

JERUSALEM -- Sometimes big political issues are most clearly seen through the lens of ordinary, everyday events.

On a recent afternoon, I was coming here from Ramallah in Palestine. This meant I had to cross the bridge over the Jordan River, via Israeli-occupied Arab East Jerusalem.

As we neared the small airport at Qalandiya, north of Jerusalem, we ran into a massive traffic jam, caused by one of the new checkpoints on the main road between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

The Israeli army simply placed several large concrete blocks in the middle of the road, forcing cars to slow down and wind their way through. Heavy traffic in both directions immediately caused massive gridlock, stopping all movement in for more than half a mile each way.

The Israeli soldiers were not checking for security or anything else; they just stood by and watched.

Most of the Palestinians who pass this way simply wait in their cars until the traffic eases. This often means spending an hour or two for a 20-minute trip.

Many people leave their cars and walk through the mess to the other side of the checkpoint, where they get into other cars, buses or taxis and continue.

To reach the bridge before it closed, I had to leave my taxi on the Ramallah side and walk for about 25 minutes in the hot early afternoon sun to the Jerusalem side, where I took another car to the bridge.

Hundreds of Palestinians were making the same journey on foot, rather than wait an hour or two.

The important thing is not that Palestinians are irritated and inconvenienced by such petty obstructions, but rather the political and emotional response aroused by that irritation.

I felt it myself that day and on other recent occasions when I shared the daily inconveniences of Palestinians under occupation. The emotional-political sequence of events is as follows:

When you first hit the massive traffic jam, you feel angry because you will be delayed. Then you get slightly concerned because you might miss an appointment or a deadline -- in my case, the closing of the bridge across the Jordan River.

A few moments later, you adjust to the reality of the situation -- you have no choice. Israeli troops stand nearby with guns at the ready. You can either wait or walk the dusty streets in the hot sun, dragging your suitcase behind you.

You feel dehumanized and degraded because your freedom as a human being, your right to move about in your own country, has been curtailed. You feel small, vulnerable.

You start to walk, annoyed, maybe angry at the Israelis, but still focused largely on the material side of this encounter. But as you walk in almost total helplessness, you feel bitter outrage at Israel.

Then, as you continue to walk and share the ordeal with hundreds or even thousands of other Palestinians also walking around the checkpoint traffic jam, your emotions and perceptions start to change quickly.

After ten minutes or so, you realize that the walk is not so bad. In fact, it is politically invigorating. Your anger changes to a kind of proud defiance. You realize that the Israeli occupation has inconvenienced you -- but more important you sense that you have digested and discounted the Israeli tactic, and will continue to live in your own land. You feel strong solidarity with the other Palestinians.

Soon you come to see your walk as the victory march of a proud human being who has taken the occupier's every humiliation and continues to struggle for freedom and dignity.

The Israeli occupation troops nearby in their cement bunkers, surrounded by their guns and communications equipment, suddenly seem sad, alien to the landscape, fearful for their own lives, and very much aware of their vulnerability. The Palestinians waiting for hours in their cars, or trudging through the streets and fields, seem oddly much more at ease, more willing to endure the petty hardships forced upon them.

What happens at these daily encounters is a major driving force for the current intifada. Israelis would do well to delve into this matter more deeply, if they seek keys to unlocking the current cycle of violence.


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