Jerusalem
Israel invests in high-tech upgrades at West Bank crossings
By Itzhak Rabihiya
Though human rights organizations object to the use of facial recognition technology on Palestinians crossing from the West Bank to Jerusalem, Palestinians are often pleased that the crossings have become more efficient - Associated Press reports today (30.7.2019)
It's just after 6 a.m. and a Palestinian man's face is momentarily bathed in crimson light, not by the sun rising over the mountains of
The Israeli military has installed the face scanners as part a multimillion dollar upgrade of the Qalandia crossing that now allows Palestinians from the
But while the high-tech upgrades may have eased entry for Palestinians going to
Qalandia is one of the main crossings for the thousands of Palestinians who enter
Among Palestinians, the heavily fortified crossing is seen as a symbol of Israeli occupation and has long been notorious as a human logjam, where workers would wait for as much as two hours in order to pass into Israeli-controlled
Palestinian laborers from around the West Bank who had permits to work in
Thanks to the upgrades, crossing through Qalandia takes roughly 10 minutes, even during the early morning rush hour, and has the feel of an airport terminal. While much of the rest of
Jamal Osta, a 60-year-old from the northern West Bank city of
The new system is substantially better but is another indication that
COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for civilian affairs in the West Bank, granted over 83,000 permits to West Bank Palestinians to work in
Many Palestinians seek employment in
In exchange for this benefit, however, Palestinians seeking work in
After passing through a security check -- a metal detector and baggage scanner -- the workers place their magnetic ID cards on a scanner and face a camera. A glow of red light emanates from a display as facial recognition software confirms the permit holder's identity and opens a turnstile.
A recent report by Israeli business paper TheMarker stated that the Israeli military uses technology provided by AnyVision, an Israeli facial recognition start-up, at
The cameras and database are being used to identify and track potential Palestinian assailants, the report said. COGAT confirmed the use of facial recognition technology at the crossing, but declined to discuss the details of the biometric database or say whether the data is used beyond the crossings. The Defense Ministry, the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency also declined comment.
B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, said it was unacceptable that the Palestinian laborers have no ability to object to the use of facial recognition technology. Roy Yellin, a spokesman for the group, called the company's development of its product through "unwilling subjects" immoral.
For Najah al-Mahseri, 62, from a town near Ramallah, giving the Israeli military his biometric data was a fair trade for a steady job in
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