Israel has ritualised the humiliation of Palestinians at Karama crossing

At 4am in the cold of January, I took the road from Bethlehem to Jericho to make it to my flight scheduled from Amman the next day. I knew it was a long, humiliating journey ahead.

The Karama crossing - which translates to “the Dignity Crossing” - is the sole gateway for Palestinians living in the West Bank. Alongside the Rafah Crossing in the Gaza Strip, what was once meant to be a bridge to the outside world has instead become a weaponised tool of oppression, systematically denying Palestinians their fundamental right to movement.

Outside the Palestinian gate was a queue of cars stretching out over 2.5km. Our taxi number was 2,290. I had a flight to catch, so my friend and I left the taxi and walked into the Palestinian lounge. The scene was horrendous: thousands of people; students, workers, pilgrims, visitors, all exclusively Palestinians, desperately trying to get onto the buses.

Some people in the hall had lost hope and decided to cancel their trip. Luckily for us, they handed us their tickets, 1,100, and 1,101, which helped us skip half the line. Still, it took hours for my number to show on the screen. Finally, at around 2.30pm, we got onto the bus that takes us to the Israeli side.

Outside the Israeli gate, eight buses were lined up, with people catching their breath in the middle of a desert border. Two hours later, only three buses were allowed to go inside the Israeli checkpoint, and the rest of the buses, including ours, were sent back. However, everyone’s luggage was already sent to the Jordanian side, without its owners.

The next day, I had to make the exact same journey, setting out at 3am, and I saw some of the same broken faces who had to spend their night in the lounge or in tents on the streets. This time, it took only 8 hours to reach Jordan to catch my flight. In avoiding settlements, the 120km trip took 36 hours.

The length of the geographical border between Palestine and Jordan is only a few tens of kilometres, natural crossing points have been isolated into one spot as a result of the 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel and the real crossing distance artificially expanded due to the Oslo Accords, that left Israel with control over the West Bank’s external borders.

As a result, the Karama crossing is a system manufactured by the Israeli authorities, who turned a minimal geographical border [the Jordan River] into an extended regime of control through checkpoints and a rerouting bus system.

The existence of only one exit for the entire West Bank, deliberately burdened and obstructed, constitutes a de facto siege through infrastructure and ‘’security arrangements'’. Millions of people are confined behind a gate that closes without notice and without consideration for their time, needs, or dignity.

The Karama crossing being a triple authority controlled border, is riddled with safety and security risks for Palestinians trying to cross.

The Palestinian Authority is the first border crossing comically in the middle of Jericho city, and Palestinians trying to exit are forced to wait in a hall for hours depending on how many buses Israel allows to their crossing point.

The Israeli checkpoint, the most nerve-wracking part for most Palestinians, has a designated Shin Bet office, and interrogators whose full time job is to order on the spot interrogations, where the best case scenario is to wait for additional hours only to be questioned and then let go.

However, in many cases, the same interrogation and procedure can either end up in being sent back and arbitrarily banned from travelling, or arrested and transferred to an Israeli prison via a ready shuttle.

Jordanian Passport control is waiting next. There, Palestinians are separated into two groups: those allowed to enter Jordan directly, and those who will be questioned by Jordanian intelligence officers.

The third authority can now force you to wait and be questioned about work, personal background and stance on the Jordanian ruling family and regime. Some results in further interrogations at the Jordanian Intelligence headquarters in Amman about their role in internal Palestinian politics, relationship with the Israeli occupation and personal life.

Though Karama crossing is usually described as Palestinians’ gate to the world, it is also a laser maze consisting of a Palestinian governing regime, an Israeli colonial entity, and a Jordanian targeted intelligence system. Palestinians throw themselves into the hands of luck and hope they’re not rerouted into a prison cell.

Large numbers of travellers compared to the crossings’ capacity, extensive searches and luggage check ins and outs, fees and taxes, and ever changing working hours, result in the journey taking longer than intercontinental flights.

While border crossings typically operate on fixed schedules, this combined crossing functions with hours shorter than a standard workday, with days where it is fully closed in both directions. Sudden closures and collective punishment by the Israeli occupation have also become a common experience.

The standard cost of crossing the border (exiting and entering) per person can amount to £126 in taxes and bus fees alone. The real cost is much higher with the lost days of the journey, tripled taxi costs at the border, hotel nights in Jordan, and possible rebooking flight tickets, and luggage fees.

For slightly shorter waiting times, private companies offer a VIP option for around £100 for one journey.

Desperate Palestinians are often compelled to bribe workers to enter, or for their bags to get delivered into the gate. Throughout the journey, it's known: pay or you will not pass.

The trip to and from the West Bank is hours or days long, and costs hundreds of pounds, leaving Palestinians dreading travelling or going back to their homes, creating a coercive environment for slowly displacing Palestinians of the West Bank.

The political horizon for Palestinians continues to shrink. In Gaza, travel through Rafah has become nearly impossible, and the same destiny is being imposed on the West Bank.

While living under occupation has made movement restrictions a daily reality, the demand for humane conditions is crucial; extended operating hours, dignified treatment, and access to basic services at border crossings are not privileges. These are necessities rooted in international human rights.

The growing calls to open the border around the clock are not new, but they are now more urgent than ever. Ensuring freedom of movement is not a political favour; it is a moral and legal obligation that must be upheld.

Zain Kamal is a Palestinian writer using a different name in order to protect their identity.

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.