what I do at work

So I mentioned that I am interning at ARIJ, but I didn't really say anything about what I am doing. ARIJ is pretty much a think tank focused on bringing information together to create a sustainable Palestine. I pretty much spend my day doing research. The project I have been assigned is to formulate a report on the seam zone permit regime. It has been interesting and frustrating.

What is this permit regime and where is this seam zone, some may ask. If I uploaded the map properly, you will see an outline of the west bank in green and orange. The green line is suppose to be the border of the west bank. The orange line is how Israel has built/is building the wall and security fence. Aside from all the obvious reasons this is problematic, the way the wall was built was for the benefit of Israel and the settlers, so most of the wall has separated families, and has also separates farmers from their land. For a Palestinian to get out of the west bank they need to apply for a permit, and whether or not they get the permit is completely random. It has nothing to do with properly filling out the application or not.

The seam zone refers to the area that is between the green line and the apartheid wall.

I say apartheid because the placement of the wall and fence is completely based on keeping Palestinians in what essentially is an open air prison. Jews who live anywhere in the world who have absolutely no connection to the land here have more rights than people who have been living as strangers on their own land for generations. The wall goes around settlements on the edge of the border, and special roads are made for the benefit of the settlers only.

So if a farmer who has been separated from his land has to apply for a special permit to get through the check point to access and tend to his land. There is an application process that is nothing short of a pain in the ass, and if denied no explanation is provided. Each person has to apply for a permit individually, and tractors and other vehicles require a separate permit. If a permit is granted the farmer can only gain access through a specific agricultural gate. The permit also only allows access at certain times. So some farmers get a permit but can only get to their crops during the harvest season, which means that they can not tend to their land at all therefore the crop is negatively affected. Many times the land owner is an old man who can not tend to the land alone, but the permit is only granted to him. I've read several instances where people who have permits are denied access because their donkey, sheep or whatever livestock they have with them does not have a permit.

As you have probably gathered, I am only getting more angry.
* this is a report by OCHA, for some brief reading if anyone is interested: http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/OCHA_SpecialFocus_BarrierGates_2007_11.pdf