Published: 25 March 2022
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Questions have been raised over the point of having the barrier as Israel turns blind eye to many crossings for economic reasons
IT’S 6AM, and the espresso machine at an unusual new business enterprise is whirring.
Proprietor Mohammed set up his breakfast kiosk near the West Bank town of Shuweika three weeks ago, and so far trade is good: hundreds of people pass by every day on their walk to work, picking up bread, cucumbers and tomatoes as well as coffee and cigarettes.
Two years ago, Palestinians entering this 200-metre-wide part of the militarised “seam zone” between Israel’s West Bank separation barrier and the 1949 armistice line would have been shot at by Israeli soldiers. They still patrol just a few metres away.
But on a bright March morning, a steady stream of commuters were walking by Mohammed’s new outfit and clambering through a nearby hole in the fencing, the majority on their way to work in illegal construction, cleaning and agriculture jobs in Israeli communities on the other side.
“It’s not a problem anymore,” the 30-year-old said. “I’m just happy to find a good job. For years I made money in more dangerous ways.”
“I can make $100 a day working there,” said a young man with wavy hair who didn’t want to give his name as he was crossing illegally. “Of course I will go.”
FULL STORY ‘It’s not a problem anymore’: Israel’s increasingly porous West Bank fence (Guardian)
Photo: Palestinians cross an Israeli security fence into Israeli area near the West Bank city of Hebron, August 2020 (EPA/Abed Al Hashlamoun)
