Separation, Division of Labor and the Politics of Sight at New Israeli Checkpoints between the West Bank and Israel Proper
Abstract
This paper investigates the role of new, major checkpoints located at the de-facto border between Israel proper and the West Bank in maintaining the Israeli control over the Palestinian Territories. While it mobilizes insights from literature dealing with the political salience of material objects, division of labor and the politics of sight, the paper is concerned with the impact of the checkpoints' novel technological and architectural features on the experience and perceptions of the Israeli guards.
Drawing on observations at several checkpoints, available documents, and interviews with members of a few NGOs as well as former soldiers who served at the terminals, I argue that new checkpoints' material constellation, employees' firm assignment to particular and narrowly defined tasks, and the physical detachment from the passing Palestinians bring about a setting which obscure checkpoints' controversial nature on the part of the personnel. Through these mechanisms, the new checkpoints cease to pose as sites where the strikingly unequal and violent relations become apparent and disturbing for Israelis manning them.