2019/03/19 by Alexandra Rijke, Claudio Minca · 29 citations
Engineering · Social Sciences · #Civil engineering #Computer science #Computer security #Engineering #Framing (construction) #Government (linguistics) #Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies #Law #Middle East Politics and Society #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Public Spaces through Art #Sociology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/anti.12526
published in Antipode 51(3), 968-988 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2019/03/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract As a part of the architecture of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories, the Israeli government introduced in 2005 a series of so‐called terminal checkpoints as “neutral border crossings”, to minimise the impact of these barriers on Palestinian lives through a different design and the use of several machines, such as turnstiles and metal detectors. In this article, we analyse terminal Checkpoint 300 in Bethlehem, framing it as a spatial political technology aimed at controlling the movement of Palestinians. More specifically, we investigate the interactions between Palestinian commuters, Israeli soldiers/security guards and the machines operating inside Checkpoint 300. We conclude by suggesting that Checkpoint 300 is a porous barrier whose regime is produced, reproduced but also challenged by such interactions, and that, despite the new “neutral design”, Checkpoint 300 is a place still filled with tension and violence, often exercised by the machines and their “decisions”.