The Psychology of Gates: The Engineering of Oppression in the Palestinian Geography

In what appears to be an attempt to raise awareness, I watched a short clip on the pages of official media figures and dozens of posts on social media, all explaining the meanings of the colors of the gates spread at the entrances to Palestinian cities and villages. The stated goal was to raise “awareness” about the significance of the color used, thus helping people act accordingly. However, what was absent from this or any other discourse is that explaining the tools of oppression does not lead to dismantling them. Rather, it contributes – unintentionally – to entrenching them in the collective consciousness, as a component of a system that appears to be “normal” in daily life under occupation. Color is presented as if it were a neutral symbol, and the rules are explained as if they were simple traffic instructions, as if these gates did not belong to a comprehensive colonial system that reshapes the public and private space of Palestinians and “engineers” the movement of individuals and consciousness simultaneously. Thus, official and community media are unintentionally transformed into an indirect mediator that “reproduces” the logic of control.

In the heart of Palestinian geography, despite its limitations, the gate is no longer just a colorful piece of iron separating two places. It has become a central symbol of the systematic system of control exercised over Palestinians on a daily basis. For years, the West Bank has been witnessing, and has intensified significantly in recent months, an unprecedented and widespread deployment of gates. There is no precise number for this, perhaps a thousand, more or less, but - despite their different colors - they conceal a single logic: the consolidation of settler superiority at the expense of Palestinians, psychologically, spatially, and temporally.

The gate is not just a physical barrier, but a tool for producing psychological helplessness and collapse. It is intended to instill in the Palestinian consciousness a constant sense of isolation from their surroundings, of weakness and dependence. It closes and opens according to a vague "security logic" determined by the occupation, subjecting Palestinians to a constant state of waiting and suspicion, amid what can be described as the "certainty of uncertainty." They are certain that something uncertain will happen: Will they be able to reach work? Will they be allowed to cross to attend a family event or the opening ceremony of a shopping mall? Will they arrive at the hospital in time? This chronic anxiety generates a state of collective tension and psychological exhaustion, fueling a "psychology of oppression" that contributes to the fragmentation of collective will.

The philosophy behind these gates is based on a right-wing assumption that the settler has "exclusive priority" or the "first right" to move around, without having his sight and hearing "polluted" by the sight of "others." Accordingly, the gates are managed to serve this logic, even if the "price" is the isolation of entire Palestinian cities and villages and the re-demarcation of "public space." In this way, the "shared" space is transformed into a temporal and geographical colony, reshaped to serve the supremacy of the settler minority at the expense of the indigenous majority.

When a gate closes, it doesn't just close a road, it closes an entire social fabric. Family ties are severed, students are prevented from reaching their universities, farmers are isolated from their lands, and families are separated from one another. Thus, the gate is used not only to isolate a person from a place, but also to isolate him from himself, and to dismantle the link between geography and identity.

Although some may think that the different colors of the gates are random, this visual multiplicity is part of the colonial symbol system and an additional means of psychological control. Each color has an unspoken "security" significance. This ambiguity adds an additional layer of confusion and uncertainty, in an attempt to force Palestinians to deal with the reality of confinement as part of their daily lives. This ambiguity is imprinted on the consciousness over time, and oppression is reproduced as "normal."

The "psychology of gates" reveals a "renewed" face of the occupation, one that is not satisfied with military control, but rather seeks to program the Palestinian consciousness to accept and coexist with the constraints. In this context, the occupation is not merely a brutal force, but rather becomes an "engineer" of geography and the psyche, "reshaping" time, place, and the self.

Faced with this reality, it is imperative to examine these practices, which may seem simple or "technical," but which, in essence, embody the deepest and most dangerous forms of domination: domination of being. Therefore, we must not limit ourselves to understanding the significance of colors, but rather go further and ask: Who and why? What messages does he want to convey to the mind of the Palestinian before he shackles his body?