Checkpoints Don’t Erase Your Freedom of Choice

I accept the fact that Israeli security checkpoints dotting the landscape in the Palestinian Authority (PA) make travel around the PA harder for the Arabs living there – you know who I mean, the Arabs who now call themselves Palestinians. I know that those who call Israel an apartheid state claim that those checkpoints are for the purpose of humiliating the Arabs and making their lives more difficult.

I hate the thought that law abiding people who have no ill intentions toward us Jews are made to suffer long lines, and all that these entail. In fact, though somewhat hawkish myself, I have had a hard time getting my head and heart around this issue.

This is daily life in Palestine because of the Israeli checkpoints pic.twitter.com/zqVcWzTuGZ

— rourou _rania (@rourourania80) March 24, 2016

But then I thought of it from another angle.

Anyone travelling by air with a stopover in Europe to change planes may be confused, as I was, at the need to go through security AGAIN when switching planes. It has never made sense to me why — after getting off a plane that I could only get onto in the first place after a thorough security check, and following the arrows put up for the benefit of transit passengers, never leaving the airport, not even going into the duty-free area — we need to pass through a new set of guards and x-ray machines before being let onto the next plane. Whatever could I have picked up on the first plane that would make me a danger to my fellows on the second plane? Whatever could I have picked up in the halls between the gate where I disembarked and the embarkation point that could make me a danger on this next plane?

screenshot: https://twitter.com/business/status/714558415192895491

No matter if your first plane came in late and you have 40 minutes or less till your next plane boards; no matter how long the line at this seemingly superfluous security gate is – you must once more place all your belongings on the belt, taking your coat off, your laptop out of its bag, etc. etc. etc. You once more go through a metal detector, sometimes having to submit to a body check. Nobody cares how much of a hurry you are in.

It is not personal. They do this to everyone – from every country, of every religion and colour, people with kids, old people and the handicapped.

It’s just the way airports have decided to handle security concerns.

Try making faces at the security personnel, try shouting at them to hurry up, and you may find yourself undergoing a more thorough and time-consuming rigmarole. They have the power to keep you from your plane if they find you disrespectful or suspicious.

The need for all these security checks is indisputable. We have seen air travel go from being a benign act of moving quickly from one place to another to being a target for terrorists to make a point of some kind. And because of the horrid few with a sense of entitlement, the innocent masses have to put up with the long lines and irritation to which we are now submitted. We accept that.

So, my dear neighbours, Arabs who now call yourselves Palestinians, suck it up. Or do something to get rid of the terror attacks and watch the checkpoints melt away into oblivion. Like it was before you started blowing us up on buses and stabbing us in the back. Your choice.

Feature Image Credit: https://twitter.com/IsraelOccForces/status/715087157975769088