Checkpoint Chronicle
In February 2014, Israeli association B’Tselem counted almost 99 fixed Israeli checkpoints. Transiting through these checkpoints is a part of the daily routine for tens of thousands of Palestinians, as they make their way to Israel for economic, religious or medical purposes. In 2014, the International Labour Organisation estimated that nearly 100,000 Palestinians work in Israel, with or without a permit. From 3 AM onwards, thousands of them start to gather before the entrance to the main checkpoints at Qalandiya, Bethlehem and Qalqilya, on their way to work in Israel. When Ramadan comes, thousands of Palestinian Muslims also make the trip to the other side of the Separation Barrier, to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam .
Nonetheless, the checkpoints are not merely points of transit. More than anything, they are holding areas, sites of friction and restriction, where time and space is beyond the control of those passing through. They are the theatre to silent, daily subordination, where the same ordeal is repeated unrelentingly, day after day.
Sandra Mehl was born in Sete (France) in 1980. She works and livre in Montpellier.
