Invisible power and control

The cause of the conflict in Jerusalem is obvious, yet very complex – it is total mixture of the accumulated historical, religious and cultural conflict caused by different point of view. Because of the duration of the conflict and the historical contents of the cause of conflict, it is hard to trace back and make decision over who’s right and who’s wrong. Knowing that, the decision making or proposal of the solution is being avoided.

Between two polemic groups of Jerusalem and especially West Bank, the hierarchy of the power structure is pretty clear - One side has total control over the other. Yet, to avoid the responsibility of making smart decision over the problem, the controlling power decided to be invisible to the one they are controlling - to make sure that they guarantee the right to have separate political party and religious / cultural views. At the same time, to make clear that they have the control, layers of security policy are imposed over the social, cultural and infra - structure. The examples are the followings - barriers, checkpoints, ID.


As I posted below, at the terminal checkpoint, Israeli decided to hide behind the one-sided mirror. By being invisible, they are anonymous, but the power structure is clear. Barriers are another example of the effort being made to be invisible to the other side. The construction of the barriers are progressed rapidly in last two years, and almost near completion. The physical separation between east Jerusalem and West Bank, and Israeli vs. Palestinian area is now clear. However, the layout of the barrier is somewhat funny - the literal effort of creating the division between Israeli and Palestinian created the isolation of the city.


The different types of ID are another imposed security layer on top of the physical structure. The West Bank residents, Jerusalem Palestinians and Israeli have possess different types of ID that clarifies different types of personal profile, which eventually entitles them into different categories - means more or less control based upon who you are.


The checkpoints are the physical location where these control measures are enforced. The checkpoints are not necessarily high tech - they are haphazardly made physical structure, but the social impact of them are well designed. Checkpoints are the one that stops the movement inside of the West Bank area by forbidding the access to the Israeli reserved road that divides the towns from each other.