Une frontière palestinienne ? La zone d’attente de Jéricho lors du passage du pont Allenby

Abstract

The Allenby/King Hussein Bridge holds a particular place within the border system imposed by Israel on the Palestinian Occupied Territories: for Palestinian West Bankers, it is indeed their only exit to Jordan, thus to the « outside world ». In this article, I seek to analyse the place of the waiting zone (istirâha) of Jericho at this particular crossing. I describe how, through maintaining the ambiguous status of this zone, Palestinian authorities find themselves indeed involved in the management of the crossing. I first take a historical perspective in order to describe the context in which the istirâha was created. I then expose how the different actors at play during the crossing try to justify their action in this particular place. I argue that while struggling to improve – as much as possible – the conditions of crossing for Palestinian passengers, these actors yet find themselves forced to play a role in maintaining the regime of control of Palestinian mobility imposed by Israel (along with the Jordanian State).

Keywords

• waiting
• crossing
• border zone
• mobility
• Palestinians