Milan Kohout, "Waiting for Survival." Beit Sahour, West Bank. 2009

Waiting for Survival. Beit Sahour, West Bank, Palestine; performance as part of an artist’s residency, July 2009.
Performance: Milan Kohout Photo: Milan Kohout’s archive
I personally participated in the whole process of getting through one of the “check points” in the wall. It is experienced every morning by the Palestinians working inside Israel. They wake up every night around three in the morning so that they can arrive around four at the check point. Than it takes them approximately three hours to get through the three stages of “security checks” (metal detectors, body searches etc). During this process they are exposed to different types of humiliating harassments. There are no bathrooms or chairs. When they get on the other side of the wall they sometimes nap on the sidewalks waiting for the transportation to their day jobs.