Dahiet al-Bariid - in the Twilight Zone
This is Dahiet al-Bariid (the place where there is/was a post office) in northern Jerusalem.
The post office was on the Other side of The Wall, in the direction that most of these cars are heading, towards Ramallah (still about 20 minutes away, over roads in unbelievably bad condition, and skirting the Qalandia checkpoint).
The Wall is finished now in this area, cutting off the main Jerusalem-Ramallah road where commerce was flourishing — that is, until The Wall came, cutting off some 25,000 or more Palestinians in Ar-Ram, who are superfluous and unwanted by Israel’s Jerusalem Municipality.
Photo by Raja Mukahal - on the right, a house is being renovated, and storefronts are being constructed up to the edge of the street. On the left, an existing corner convenience store is receiving a delivery of gas bottles which is how most people warm themselves here in the winter, and also cook. Note that the cars have yellow — Israeli — license plates.
The Wall here separates one part of Dahiet al-Bariid, where the World Bank has its office, and where the Israeli and Palestinian teams of the Geneva Initiative/Accords used to meet once a month. from another part.
Only this gap has been left open, allowing traffic to continue through this once-quiet area, making this small street a major road. Because this gap is open, there is a checkpoint down at the bottom of the hill, for going to Jerusalem.
But not everybody can pass through. Diplomats, UN cars, journalists accredited with the Israeli Goverment Press Office, and some of the residents of this small corner of the earth, on the Jerusalem side of The Wall, which is now supposed to be truly and officially part of Jerusalem, according to a Supreme Court decision — but in reality it has become a sort of “seam zone”.
To get a “number”, the residents can try to go to Qalandia, to find whoever is in charge there — that will take a number of tries, and many, many hours of time — to ask for “a number”. Some Palestinians are afraid to do this, out of concern that this may somehow be used to remove their Jerusalem residency rights at some point in the future — despite the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision.
With this “number”, they can approach the checkpoint down the hill, and wait in line, yet again. Sometimes, this takes a very long time.
Then, when they finally arrive at the point where all the young soldiers with are gathered, they will tell the hopeful potential travellers to stop, while the soldiers go through a loose-leaf notebook containing a list of the names of those with numbers. The pages blow in the wind and rain, and coffee stains mark the pages. But, the young soldiers with guns will go through every page, one by one (they don’t seem to be filed in an order), until they find the number and the corresponding name and ID information (or not — and in this case it means turning around and going back home).
Since Annapolis, instead of getting better, the procedures have gotten much, much worse.
Now, for Palestinians, there is a full-blown inspection involving, among other things, getting out of the car, opening all the doors and the trunk, and discussing all the details of one’s life as one tries to explain oneself in an absurd and ridiculous situation and menacing. What is this? Why do you have that? Where are you going? Why? Where are you coming from? Why?
(Before Annapolis, but not too long before, when things were already tightening up, I drove through the checkpoint one night with a sick dog lying in a cardbord carton in the back seat. What’s that?, the soldier with a gun asked. When I said it’s a sick dog, and explained I was taking the creature to the Jerusalem Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Talpiot, almost at Bethlehem, across the entire large city of Jerusalem, the soldier backed off and wished me good luck. But, if it had been a pregnant Palestinian woman, we certainly would not have been allowed to pass. Next time I saw the soldier again, he asked how was the cat. I told him it had been a dog, and that unfortunately the dog had died, after three days of extensive treatment.)
The young people with guns at the checkpoint seem to delight in telling people to go back and go through crowded Qalandia, now a large concrete and steel structure. Qalandia, the major checkpoint/crossingpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, resembles nothing so much as a slaughterhouse for cattle — though fortunately there is not too much death here, except of the soul, and the spirit.
Filed under: Donors, Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians, Register of damages due to The Wall
well fortunately the soul & spirit dont really die
tho it may look that way
but to even acknowledge such a mess as this one
or as any of the other messes it is necessary to acknowledge while keeping even a sleepy eye on our dear & only turtle bay country club
one must also know
that in reality there is no such thing as death or dead or dying or any of that
& that we are all actually doing all this nonsense & all this sense too in a very well padded cell or dream
& so arent really getting hurt quite so badly or permanently as it may seem either
& that all of this like everything else is always proceeding in full conformity with cosmic law
& that
in fact
all is everywhere & always well
our real difficulty tho is we just havent yet fully divined all that cosmic law
but it seems we are definitely getting there by leaps & bounds
wouldnt you agree
I’m soothed, again, by your words.
Do I agree?
Yes, if you mean: we haven’t yet fully divined all that cosmic law.
I don’t know if we’re getting there by leaps and bounds…
& you are well worth the soothing mother marian
just for the joy of massaging your divine humanity & human divinity
but especially in your capacity as a primary conduit for global healing
& i would agree leaps & bounds are relative terms
hmm
come to mention it
the last time we did take a leap in our bounding art was i think 1649
so lets see
where are we
2008 minus 1649
hmm thats 359 years ago
so by sweet westphalias ghost you are very very right
& we are still revisiting the sins of sevenses of generationses today
all committed & recommitted across long centuries when people still believed or had to let on that only kings were gods
but we dont have to do that any more
& can take both a leap of bounds & a leap of faith today
yes
lets leap or croak today my fellow froggie
for its do or die
from where the sun now stands
2008 equals westphalia plus
birds of a feather flock together
& the world & everything in it are equally free for all
desire it & allow it & it is
yes i know i know i am waxing so loquacious again
but i climbed another march this noon
haha
actually 2 long marches & climbs
& chatted with my friends the holy cows of eponymous hill again
& they said they are definitely in on our holy land municipal trammel
with no exclave problem at all
since they can always just jump over the moon
& will be very happy to serve all us holies of a feather in the capacity of being holier than cow
since its a dirty nasty job but somebodys gotta do it
ahh but my creamery runneth over today sweet
& i see here the powers that be are generally willing to update & override westphalian boundary principles for purposes of hot pursuit
http://www.slate.com/id/2185839/
so perhaps they will also grow amenable in equally short order to our equally slight proposed modifications
that would actually be even more sensible to pursue
Setting Boundaries
Can Colombia cross into Ecuador in hot pursuit of rebels?
By Lionel Beehner
Posted Wednesday, March 5, 2008, at 1:35 PM ET
In what was labeled a “hot pursuit” mission, Colombian forces crossed into Ecuador and killed more than a dozen FARC guerrillas March 1. Among those slain in the raid was Raúl Reyes, the organization’s No. 2, who is apparently a pal of Hugo Chávez’s. Venezuela’s strongman rattled sabers by amassing thousands of troops and tanks along the border and withdrawing Venezuela’s ambassador from Bogotá, warning, “This could be the start of a war in South America.”
Colombia has waged a decadeslong war against FARC, a band of Marxists known for its kidnappings and drug trafficking. But did Colombia’s government overreach by striking rebel camps inside Ecuador? The answer depends on whether you believe that nations should be allowed to violate their neighbors’ sovereignty in “hot pursuit” of armed combatants. Increasingly, states are saying, Why not? After all, Colombia claims that the Ecuadorian authorities collaborated with FARC and provided them with a safe haven. If you don’t keep your shop clean, the thinking goes, we’ll pry open your windows at night and do it for you. Turkey employed similar logic to justify its cross-border offensive into northern Iraq last month to root out the Kurdistan Workers Party, a pro-Kurdish rebel group. Ditto Israel’s rationale for its July 2006 invasion of Lebanon after Hezbollah fighters killed and kidnapped a handful of Israeli soldiers. All three states say they acted in self-defense.
Even the United States winks at hot pursuit’s legitimacy. In fact, the U.S. military says it was authorized to enter Iran and Syria to pursue insurgents, according to a classified 2005 memo released by Wikileaks last month. The same rules of engagement apply to its hunt for terrorists in Pakistan. As then-Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in a Senate armed services committee hearing last March, U.S. forces do not need the approval of Islamabad “to pursue [terrorists], either with [artillery] fire or on the ground, across the border.” As recently as March 3, the U.S. Navy lobbed a few Tomahawk missiles into southern Somalia to take out a band of Islamist extremists.
Indeed, while “hot pursuit” may conjure an image of a car chase across county lines, its invocation among nations is growing. This is a reflection not only of the borderless nature of today’s enemies, from terrorists to drug traffickers, but also of states’ growing inability—or unwillingness—to control these combatants. The phrase refers to the right of nations to temporarily violate another state’s sovereignty and nab or kill wanted fugitives, whether they are terrorists, rebels, or war criminals. Others interpret the phrase more loosely to provide legal sanction for larger incursions or even surgical airstrikes.
Legal experts remain divided over the practice. Some say the term refers to the arcane right of navies to pursue foreign ships that have fled to the high seas and that it has no legitimacy on land. “The bottom line is there is no such thing as ‘hot pursuit,’ ” argues David Crane of Syracuse University’s College of Law. “Maybe if I’m a cop in Macon County, Ga., and the bad guy crosses over into the next county, then it’s OK.” But in the international arena, he says, Colombian forces cannot simply barge into Ecuador and attack rebels without Ecuador’s permission.
Others contend that the role between nonstate actors and their hosts has evolved. Prior to 9/11, only a government that exhibited “effective control” of a group within its borders was found liable for the group’s crimes. That is why the International Court of Justice found that Nicaragua was not responsible for funneling arms to El Salvador-based guerrillas in the 1980s. Nor did Serbia demonstrate “effective control” over Bosnian Serbs accused of massacring thousands of Muslims in the 1990s.
With the U.S.-led overthrow of the Taliban, however, the “effective control” principle was tossed out the window. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1373, passed shortly after 9/11, required that states “deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist acts.” That is, state sovereignty confers rights but also responsibilities to control one’s territory. More important, says Michael Scharf of the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, “it gives the victimized country the option for self-help,” provided the response is immediate, proportional, and a means of last resort.
The trouble is that states tend to overreach. Both Turkey and Israel caught guff for using disproportionate force during their respective cross-border operations against the PKK and Hezbollah. Yet the doctrine of proportionality remains subjective. To paraphrase what a law professor told me after the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict: If someone punches you in the nose, you don’t burn their house down. That is, Colombia cannot respond to FARC guerrilla activity by carpet-bombing Quito. A targeted airstrike against a terrorist safe house near the border, on the other hand, is more open to debate.
There is some confusion over whether a chase has to be under way for hot pursuit to apply. Ecuador’s president said the rebels were killed “in their pajamas,” not while fleeing Colombian forces. Regardless, Colombia doesn’t believe it will be slapped with sanctions or reprimanded by the United Nations. Nor is Venezuela expected to follow through on its threat to “send some Sukhois” into Colombia. “This is just a way for Chávez to ramp up the costs and consequences for Colombia,” says Adam Isacson, director of programs at the Center for International Policy.
Still, this standoff highlights the real danger that hot-pursuit raids can pose. In the post-9/11 era, nations have a right to self-defense against nonstate actors. But were this to emerge as the new global norm, twitchy nations would just invade their neighbors with impunity, running the risk of localized conflicts escalating into regional conflagrations. Worse, terrorist groups such as FARC or the PKK would not be eradicated—they would simply find sanctuary elsewhere.