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Israel's High-Tech Facelift Takes the Sting Out of Checkpoints
(Washington Post) Ruth Eglash - At the Qalandia military checkpoint north of Jerusalem in the West Bank, people step calmly up to the electronic barrier and allow their ID cards to hover for a second over a green laser before an automatic gate pops open like at an advanced airport terminal. After a multimillion-dollar renovation, Palestinians breeze through, encountering the Israeli military only if they had not yet received a biometric identification card. Even during busy times, it takes less than five minutes to cross. Qalandia checkpoint was established 18 years ago during the second intifada, when Palestinian suicide bombers were sent to blow up buses and restaurants inside Israel. Shaul Shay, an Israeli military historian, said that maintaining checkpoints but upgrading them was the best way to maintain "coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians.... Unfortunately, as long as Palestinian terror continues, Israel cannot take any risks. This system is unavoidable."