A Personal Diary: "Locked in Ramallah for two weeks, part III"

Discovering Oslo 2 Diary
5th-18th March 1996
Locked in Ramallah for two weeks, part III

Those familliar checkpoints

Left: Queues of cars wait for a chance to cross the checkpoint between Ramallah and Birzeit.

"Checkpoint" is a funny word in Palestine. The Hebrew word, Makhsoom, has actually entered the local spoken Arabic and replaced both Hajes ("barrier") and the rythmic Nuqta Tafteesh ("checkpoint"). It doesn't take a student of psychology to realise that this MEANS something. If I was an Israeli, I would be concerned to have left this as one of the legacies of my impact on the Palestinians. Another, more humourous example of this linguistic colonialism is the use of the Hebrew word for "traffic lights". Basically, for years, Palestinian towns haven't had any, so maybe they figure it makes more sense. Since the arrival of the PNA, there are now one set of lights in Gaza and another in Nablus. Traffic police are slowly breaking them in with accompanying gestures. Canadian writer Margaret Atwood calls what I am doing here "survival laughter". I would be interested to see a comparative sociological study between Palestine and any other country to see if it is as widespread as I suspect.

The checkpoint as lifeline

The checkpoints lifted during the two week period every few days for a short while to allow the passage of necessary goods. In the picture here (right), one of Birzeit's visiting international research students has her car taken to bits during a search. I apologise for the quality of some of these checkpoint photos, but I'm sure you can appreciate why. Many soldiers don't like their deeds becoming part of public record. During this period, we read of two or three stories of babies and old men dying at checkpoints. I'll try to dig them out of the archives. For those who heard the IDF spokesman say in response that "MOST of the time, emergency service vehicles get through quickly," and find yourself wondering if we are listening to a being from a different planet, rest assured you're right. And for those who have watched emergency vehicles sit for hours at checkpoints, without being prioritised, know that it is because, "In the past, emergency vehicles have been used to transport terrorists and weapons." I remember hearing from a Palestinian doctor in Gaza that IDF undercover units (read "death squads") often hijacked Palestinian ambulances during the Intifada to carry out an operation. Perhaps this is what he was referring to.

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