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Home » ZNet » Amira Hass » The
border of the state of Ramallah

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The border of the state of Ramallah

The border of the state of Ramallah

By Amira Hass

Thursday, November 24, 2005

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In contrast to the "big bangs," or the election of MK Amir Peretz as Labor
Party chairman and the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from the
Likud, the establishment of the southern border of the state of Ramallah is
happening with nary a whimper.

Like the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, it is a unilateral Israeli move.
Unlike the disengagement from Gaza, it is totally unilateral: There are no
negotiations, and there is no involvement by the World Bank and quartet envoy
James Wolfensohn to determine the transit arrangements.

The gradualness in the unilateral process of the establishment of the state
of Ramallah makes each stage imperceptible, invisible and, in effect, trivial.

And what is more trivial than a few Palestinians who earn their living
transporting packages in a handcart at the Qalandiyah crossing point? During the
past two weeks, soldiers and officers of the Civil Administration have informed
them that they are now forbidden to carry crates of fruits and vegetables for
people crossing from the roadblocks southward. Go to Bitunia, west of Ramallah,
they are told.

According to the IDF Spokesman and the Civil Administration, there is an
explanation: "According to an order (from 1988) concerning the passage of goods,
signed by the commander of the Central Command and the head of the Civil
Administration (and which was amended in August 2005), any movement of
merchandise in commercial quantities from the area into Israel, and out of
Israel into the area, will be done only through the following crossing points
for merchandise ("back to back"): The Gilboa crossing point, Sha'ar Efraim, the
Bitunia crossing point and the Tarqumiya crossing point."

The Gilboa, Sha'ar Efraim and Tarqumiya crossing points are more or less on
the Green Line (pre-Six Day War border); Bitunia is deep inside the territory of
the West Bank. These carters are not wholesale importers. They make their living
from the packages that pedestrians carry at Qalandiyah. The carts are a
miserable substitute for the taxis and cars that used to travel directly from
Ramallah to the other villages and towns in the area and in the West Bank. It is
the custom of the inhabitants of the nearby villages to purchase items that they
do not find in the village in the market in Ramallah. A kilo or two are not
sufficient for large families - hence the need for crates. But for the IDF and
the Civil Administration, these crates are "merchandise" and "commercial
quantities," subject to the regulations of taxing and inspection at an
"international crossing point," between state and state. Israel and Ramallah.
The border for pedestrians is Qalandiyah. The border for merchandise - Bitunia.

Ostensibly, this is "just" one of many instances of Palestinians losing their
source of income, miserable though it might be, because of an Israeli military
order. But, in fact, it is much more. This is a declaration of victory for the
policy of Israel, headed by Sharon, which is aimed at butchering the West Bank
into a number of disconnected area units. The southern border of the Ramallah
area unit is delineated by Road 344 (Modi'in-Givat Ze'ev) - to which access from
the Palestinian villages is blocked by concrete blocks and iron gates, by barbed
wire fences and by two "international" crossing points: Bitunia and Qalandiyah.
The rest of the borders of Ramallah - eastern, northern and western - are
similarly defined.

In March 2001, the IDF began to position soldiers south of the Qalandiyah
refugee camp - in addition to the permanent southern crossing point at Al Ram,
which separates the West Bank from the Palestinian territory that was annexed to
Jerusalem in 1967. The number of soldiers at Qalandiyah gradually increased, the
crowding increased and the hours of waiting at the crossing point grew longer.
In May 2002, the IDF began the earthworks that indicated the long-term plans.
Cars bearing Palestinian license plates were gradually prohibited from going
through, and sometimes passage was also denied to inhabitants of certain areas
of the West Bank or of certain age groups. The route of the separation fence,
which is indeed a wall, cuts the northern part of the West Bank from the
southern part in this area.

Until further notice, West Bank inhabitants are allowed to go through this
crossing point on foot. South of the roadblock, they enter taxis that will take
them to their homes, so near and yet so far, over winding and secondary roads.
Only Palestinians who are residents of Jerusalem can go through this crossing
point, either on foot or in a vehicle (after a long wait). The concrete blocks
that were positioned there initially have given way gradually to a monstrosity,
the construction of which is now being completed: continuous watchtowers of
reinforced concrete that purport to be an international "terminal" - a roofed
structure, barbed wire that stretches from west to east and from north to south,
separating kinfolk, separating people who until not long ago were neighbors who
popped over to borrow sugar or play backgammon. All deep inside the West Bank.

Unlike the unilateral disengagement from Gaza, Jewish settlements are not
being evacuated from inside the area of the state of Ramallah. The disengagement
from Gaza respects the Green Line. But the establishment of the Qalandiyah and
Bitunia as "international" crossing points in the heart of the occupied West
Bank entails the de facto annexation to Israel of a fat strip of territory from
Modi'in to the Jewish settlements of Geva-Adam and Psagot. It means Israel is
scoffing at and disregarding any international decision in the matter of a
solution to the conflict. But Europe and America, which have signed these
decisions, are behaving as though this were rain.

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