Ladies and gentlemen the terminal has opened

Hi ladies and gentlemen, this next one is addressed to you.

Below is a poem a friend of mine wrote, upon the opening of the "revamped" Qalandia checkpoint, which was the name of the Israeli military checkpoint all people have to pass through when entering or leaving Ramallah, in the West Bank by the Southern entrance/exit . What used to be a breeze-block, corrugated plastic roof- affair with two electronic turnstiles to pass on your way out of Ramallah, has now changed its features and name. It now resembles a gigantic high-tech border terminal, complete with luggage x-ray machines and a grand total of no less than 5 traffic-lighted electronic turnstiles to pass on your way out of Ramallah. Interesting name change too, I was surprised to see (should I be?): On the digital panel above the entrance, flashing text reads: Welcome to Aterot checkpoint

Explanation: Aterot is the name of an illegal Jewish settlement just some kilometres away from Ramallah....Qalandia is the name of the refugee camp just inside the checkpoint on the Ramallah side...For those of you readers who are yet unfamiliar with Israel's annexation/colonisation policy in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, this name change is just another attempt to appropriate land to Israel...not just through the physical imposition of a new checkpoint there that takes up much more land than the prior makeshift one, but by replacing the Palestinian place-name with an Israeli place-name to indicate where the checkpoint is, so that people will automatically think that it belongs to Israel and not the soon-to-be (mini, non-contiguous, non-viable) state of Palestine...
They are clever buggers, the Israelis...but don't worry, there are plenty of "me"s out there who notice every last detail and are jotting them all down for posterity....the tide will turn one day...

Ladies and Gentlemen,
The terminal has opened
With a huge placard in front
Boasting a flower and a slogan
“The hope of us all”
A slap in the face
Uno schiaffo in faccia
Who put it there?
I wonder, as I pass through the mud in the once more
Changed landscape that is Qalandia
I was only gone one day and one night
But it has changed again
And left me voluntarily speechless
Stubbornly silent
….Qalandia
Electronic turnstiles
Newer models
But metal gates, just the same
A permanent feature in my Alltag
I did not ask it to be here
Just like I asked not the Israeli
“From river to river” flags
To rudely flutter in my face
As I drive along Jerusalem roads
And at every checkpoint and
Along West Bank roads too…
Hang on? Are you sure this is AREA C?
If it is not, kindly lower your godforsaken flag and wipe your "chosen" ass with it
Lausamat
I grumpily mutter to myself,
Trying to annex flag-flying space too
Hmph