Qalandiya Termainal - Entering the Corporate Nightmare

Qalandiya Terminal, the crossing between East Jerusalem and Ramallah is often the first military checkpoint visitors cross when entering the West Bank. During the second intifada the Israeli state began transforming the old Qalandiya checkpoint into a ‘terminal’, similar to an international border, the process has cost between $32 and $34 million and has delivered hefty profits to the contractors involved.

One of those contractors is Elbit, a large Israeli arms/security company, whose technology can be seen all over the West Bank. People crossing Qalandiya from Ramallah to Jerusalem are monitored by Elbit CCTV cameras as they pass through turnstiles, carrying the brand or product name ‘Alarm’, to be barked at over a tannoy by soldiers inside a plate glass booth. The ‘Shamrad’ intercom system also bears the Elbit logo. Elbit received a contract to provide security systems for the the Jerusalem Envelope section of the Wall (Masu’a system).

For more information on Elbit see

 http://www.whoprofits.org/Company%20Info.php?id=554

Once through the turnstile travellers belongings must be passed through a Rapiscan scanner. Rapiscan are a US company whose investors include Barclays Global Investors UK Holdings and AXA. The scanners are installed through its Israeli representative, Hashmira, Israel’s largest private security company, which is 70% owned by G4S.

For more information on Rapiscan see

 http://www.whoprofits.org/Company%20Info.php?id=653.

For more information on Hashmira see

 http://whoprofits.org/Company%20Info.php?id=595 and

 http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=3500

Fingerprint recognition systems at Qalandiya are provided by Schlage, a US based company (see  http://recognitionsystems.schlage.com/products/). Schlage is part of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies. Its website pronounces, in unashamedly Orwellian language, that “Real security sets you free”.

Over the next few days Qalandiya will be a source of misery and frustration to Palestinians as the Israeli defence minister has announced that the West Bank will be ‘closed’ from Friday 26th February 2010 for four days for the Jewish holiday of Purim. Closures generally mean that West Bank Palestinians, even those with permits, will not be allowed to cross to Jerusalem.