No Dignity at Allenby: Palestinian Babies 'Are Suffocating in 95°F Heat' - Opinion
"They opened the bridge, praise God, and people began crossing," someone wrote in a Facebook group for travelers using the international border crossing with Jordan – known in Israel simply as Allenby Bridge – the only one open to Palestinian residents of the West Bank.
"Are you sure?" someone replied, before adding: "We're having a hard time distinguishing between truth and rumors."
The exchange took place last Thursday at around 2:30 P.M. Four hours earlier, Israeli border inspectors had launched a wildcat strike that lasted three hours. Although their demands were directed at the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority, it was Palestinians seeking to cross the border who suffered the consequences. But what difference did that make? Has restricting Palestinians' freedom of movement ever bothered anyone in Israel?
A video filmed in a waiting hall in Jericho, at a facility outside the Israeli-controlled border terminal, shows several angry men brawling amid long rows of frustrated travelers. None of them knows whether they will manage to reach Amman in time to catch their flights or make it to a business meeting.
By the end of Thursday, only 25 of 50 crowded buses had completed the kilometer-and-a-half journey (less than a mile) between the Israeli and Jordanian border terminals.
A spokesman for the Jordanian Interior Ministry said that many travelers had been unable to reach the West Bank. According to the Palestinian General Authority for Borders and Crossings, some 1,200 people were forced to turn back. Jordanian authorities promised that they would be given priority the following day, but the crossing's opening hours are shorter on Fridays.
"Is there any chance I'll be able to cross today?" one woman wrote on Friday.
"People without urgent needs shouldn't bother coming," someone replied.
A third person added: "We're here, all crowded together."
A fourth wrote: "We're among those who didn't manage to cross yesterday. We came back today with a time slot we reserved online [which is valid for two days]. The word 'disaster' doesn't begin to describe the situation. There is no consideration for children younger than 1, who are suffocating. In 35-degree heat (95 Fahrenheit degrees), people are lifting them above the heads of those waiting.
"People climbed the fence and jumped down from it. The tent [outside the waiting area], is useless, apart from the little shade it provides. No one is there to keep the lines orderly, despite the promises [made by the Jordanian authorities], even though a day like this requires more organization than usual. We arrived at the Jordanian terminal at 5 in the morning and got through the first gate [leading to the border inspection hall] only after 9 A.M.
"People who hadn't reserved a time slot online got ahead of us at every stage of the inspection process." She meant to say that they had either used their connections there or paid someone on the side, the kind of corruption the authorities had promised to crack down on.
Palestinians who were forced to turn back for a second time on Friday then had to wait until Sunday, since the terminal used by Palestinians is closed on the Jewish Shabbat.
But on Sunday, July 12, at around 9 A.M., as I was beginning to write this article, one contributor to the Facebook group reported: "The bridge has suddenly been closed because of a strike by Israeli officials, and the lines of travelers are growing."
Responses to the post ranged from curses and expressions of faith in God and His power to claims that the bridge was not actually closed: "Look, we crossed."
Others joked that cigarette smugglers were striking to protest measures taken against them. Others worried about humanitarian cases, including elderly and disabled travelers and people heading to Amman for medical treatment.
Fifteen minutes later, the Palestinian General Administration for Borders and Crossings confirmed that there were delays because of a wildcat strike.
"The administration urges travelers to remain patient, avoid arriving at the crossing at this time and change their travel plans until an official announcement is issued that operations have resumed," the statement read.
Shortly before 11 A.M., the Facebook group, which was providing more timely updates than the administration, announced that the bridge had reopened.
"Are you sure?" many asked.
The uncertainty, anger over the time lost and frustration at disrupted plans hovered over every response.
At least one contributor concluded that the Israelis were striking because they refused to work longer hours without additional pay.
At present, the crossing is open to passenger traffic in both directions for just five and a half hours a day, from 8 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Security checks and passport control continue until 5 P.M., or 3:30 P.M. on Fridays.
There is something cautiously optimistic about this last conclusion. It suggests that someone in Israel may have finally listened to these cries of distress – which also formed the basis of a petition to the High Court of Justice, due to be heard later this month – and decided that even if Palestinians remain under full military occupation, they should at least be treated as human beings at an international border crossing.
Palestinians call the crossing Karameh, after the village where Fatah and the Jordanian army fought invading Israeli forces in March 1968. The battle was regarded as a Palestinian victory because, despite the heavy casualties suffered by Jordanian and Palestinian fighters, a relatively large number of Israelis were also killed.
Karameh means "dignity".
In a world in which Israeli authorities force Palestinians to cross the border under humiliating conditions of overcrowding, wasted hours, queue scalping and the constant disruption of their plans, the name Allenby, after the British general whose forces conquered the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, seems particularly fitting.