Latitute- VIEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD... Checkpoint Jitters By RAJA SHEHADEH

Abir Sultan/European Pressphoto Agency

http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/israeli-checkpoint-willies/?ref=global

Jabaa Checkpoint, West Bank — Every day, at hundreds of checkpoints throughout the West Bank, Palestinians are stopped and made to wait, often for a long while, before they are let through. Last week I was halted at the Jabaa checkpoint on my way from my home in Ramallah to dinner at a friend’s house in Bethlehem.

I was by myself, listening to a Beethoven string quartet, one of the most beautiful of his later works. The weather was good; the moon was out. I was in a meditative mood. I wanted to feel the beauty of the moment and not let it be determined, defined or in any way affected by the bored Israeli soldiers blocking my way...READ MORE

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

Raja Shehadeh, a lawyer and writer living in Ramallah, is the author of “A Rift in Time: Travels with my Ottoman Uncle” and “Palestinian Walks: Notes on a Vanishing Landscape,” which won the Orwell Prize in 2008. His new book, “Occupation Diaries,” will be published in August.

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