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26 Feb, 2014

Asia Times Online: Israeli activists shed light on what really happens at the checkpoints

The case of a seven-year-old Palestinian boy who, fresh from surgery, collapsed through exhaustion at a checkpoint due to a processing delay has highlighted the hardships facing sick Gazans returning from treatment in Israel.

Omar’s family had managed to obtain the necessary permits that allowed him to cross the Erez checkpoint to Jerusalem, through the West Bank, in order to undergo an eye operation. However, on the way back, the boy and his father were stopped for hours at the Qalanidya checkpoint in East Jerusalem.

Omar’s story was reported in painful detail on February 16 by Israeli human-rights activist Tamar Fleishman, who works with Machsomwatch (Checkpoint Watch). Fleishman has spent countless hours at the Qalanidya checkpoint reporting on the Israeli military’s treatment of Palestinians. Her report sheds a light on a side of the Israeli occupation that often goes unnoticed.

Read the rest: Asia Times Online :: Checkpoints between worlds in Gaza.