Holy Land: Private security firms take over on checkpoints
Caritas Jerusalem has sent us an Israeli news story which reports that private security companies are taking over from the army in policing the concrete walls, chain-link fences, metal gates and turnstiles that ordinary Palestinians have to pass through every day on their way to work, school and hospital. journalist Meron Rapoport writes: "without exception, men and women, young and old, miss the soldiers". They say that the civilian guards are much rougher and more aggressive. The worst complaints, he writes, relate to 'Room 3' - a small sealed room at one checkpoint, where, according to several testimonies, Palestinian men and women have been made to strip completely, and sometimes wait for hours. It seems the private firms will be taking over many more border duties in the next few months. To read the full article, Outsourcing the checkpoints, click on: www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/909291.html