Palestinian Territories: the hell of the Allenby Bridge, the West Bank's only international border
Passengers arrive on the Jordanian side of the King Hussein Bridge (also called the Allenby Bridge) between the West Bank and Jordan on July 19, 2022. © AFP - KHALIL MAZRAAWI
Text by: Alice Froussard Follow
4 mins
The Israelis call it the "Allenby Bridge", the Jordanians have renamed it in honor of King Hussein and for Palestinians in the West Bank it is the only exit door to the rest of the world and the only place from where they can return home.
For the past few days, the border crossing terminal between the West Bank and Jordan, controlled by Israel, has been completely congested, to the chagrin of the Palestinians.
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From our correspondent in the Palestinian Territories,
Faced with huge traffic jams clogging the “Allenby Bridge” and causing delays,
PLO Secretary General Hussein al-Sheikh
blamed Israel for these “
catastrophic conditions
”: “
We are in intensive contact with our brothers in Jordan to find solutions to this tragic situation experienced by the Palestinians
,” he said.
Thousands of
Palestinians
are indeed stranded, unable to return home due to extreme overcrowding at the borders.
Many on Twitter describe the horror scenes: passengers waiting on the Jordanian side, sometimes for three days, others sleeping near the terminal to be there at opening time, people fainting, because of the heat there, which reaches 45 degrees and children, victims of sunstroke, who have seizures after spending the day waiting.
There is currently a three hour wait at the Jordanian side of Allenby Bridge.
Many of the people here are American citizens.
Now tell me why the US is busy working on a visa waiver for Israel while we rot in literal hell at the border crossing pic.twitter.com/15f6509zQU
— 🪬Dalia Hatuqa🪬 (@DaliaHatuqa) July 5, 2022
The few photos published - when they were banned by the police according to witnesses on the spot - attest to total chaos.
Humiliation
Same thing in the so-called VIP area, this place where you normally pay 160 dollars for the crossing so that it is faster, thanks to a mini bus of 5 or 6 people instead of a bus of about fifty people.
The Palestinians we contacted therefore speak of humiliation, consider themselves considered “
like animals
” and insist on the fact that they have not seen this for decades.
A young Palestinian said she arrived at the terminal at three o'clock in the morning to pass as soon as it opened.
His crossing, while there are only a few kilometers to go, lasted 16 hours.
She says she twisted her ankle and passed out at one point because of the crowds and the heat.
Only way to an airport
On the Allenby Bridge Facebook page, you can also read complaints from passengers.
Abu Adam al Khalili writes, for example, that “
the problem is that there is no desire to improve people's movements: the system, which has existed for 30 years, has remained the same.
»
You should know that the 3.5 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank do not have access to an airport.
To return from vacation, they have to arrive at Amman airport in Jordan, head towards the border and then cross through this terminal.
According to Palestinian sources, around 7,000 passengers cross the bridge every day.
The Palestinians accuse Israel of limiting the crossing to 4,000 people a day at this time.
And above all, we are talking about nearly 10,000 people who want to cross during the holiday period.
This is the case at the moment, many are returning home after spending the Eid holiday abroad.
American-Moroccan mediation
The terminal is also only open 1 p.m. a day, and only 5 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Finally, all the Palestinians, who live abroad and who have not been able to visit their families during the summer holidays for the past three years due to Covid-19 restrictions, are added with pressure.
Visiting the region
, US President Joe Biden said he played a mediating role, with Morocco, with Israel so that the Jewish state opened the crossing point 24 hours a day. agreement but specified that the logistics had to be prepared first and that this would not be in place before the end of September.
Obviously, this does not make the Palestinians angry: “
the decision must be immediate and not for September because the crisis these days is suffocating”,
denounces a user on Facebook.
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Israel
Israelo-Palestinian conflict
Palestinian territories
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Joe Biden
United States