‘Traveling through hell’ at the Allenby-King Hussein border crossing
Palestinians wait at Al-Istiraha, the first leg of their journey of crossing into Jordan on the Palestinian side of the Allenby bridge, 17 August 2021
Bianca Carrarera reports in Mondoweiss:
During the last few weeks, following the heated events in the West Bank as a result of violent Israeli raids in Nablus, Jenin, and Huwwara, Israeli forces have besieged the city of Jericho in February and March of this year. This city is the only pathway connecting West Bank Palestinians with the outside world, as it is where the “Karameh crossing” linking the West Bank with Jordan’s King Hussein Bridge is located.
This siege has thus prevented many Palestinians from traveling abroad and has reminded the world of how restricted and difficult mobility is for West Bank Palestinians, whose only way in and out of the country relies on “the Bridge.”
The border crossing requires travelers to pass through three different “sides” to make it to Jordan — the Palestinian side in Jericho, the Israeli side at the Allenby Bridge, and the Jordanian side at the King Hussein Bridge.
Without an airport of their own (Gaza’s having been destroyed by Israeli forces in 2002), and with long and complicated requirements for them to use Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, West Bank Palestinians find themselves with the only option of using Jordan’s Queen Alia Airport every time they want to travel abroad — and that is neither a short nor an easy journey.
Something as simple and now mundane in our minds as taking a flight takes Palestinians not only an unpredictably long amount of time but also requires sizable sums of money and a great deal of mental wherewithal.
Sarah, a Palestinian from the city of Hebron who requested her name to be changed for fear of reprisals, tells Mondoweiss that “traveling through Jordan can be one of the most traumatic and energy-draining experiences you will ever go through.”