MachsomWatch Alerts

Everyday life in the Occupied Territories

A ten-year old boy crosses the bustling crowded checkpoint at Qalandiya all by himself day by day, on his way to school. He’s a bit scared but has no choice, there is no other way to get to school. Today’s a special day. He has received a new pair of jeans. Suddenly, as he gets to the checking post, all hell breaks loose. All the red lights turn on and everything bleeps. The soldiers are on “terrorist alert” procedure, leaping at the child with their weapons pointed. The child weeps, terrified. Don’t Palestinian parents know they mustn’t buy their child a pair of pants decorated with metal buttons?

We have been warning about the banality of evil for years now, the “negligible” events that make everyday life impossible for the Palestinians living under Israeli Occupation. Most Israelis are blind to the goings-on in the Occupied Territories, nor do they wish to know. The authorities are conscious of the goings-on in the West Bank but are not interested in changing their policy and instating any relief – they are indifferent to the suffering of the other although their official duty is indeed to enable proper life for the population living under occupation.

Who cares?

Workers begin their workday at 7 a.m. Tardiness is recorded, wages are consequently reduced according to the number of hours missed. Uncertain of the amount of time needed for passage, the workers reach the checkpoints very early in the morning. The pressure reaches its highest around 5-7 a.m. but the changing of the guards disrupts procedures and has been set at 6 a.m. – why?? Because the army does not know how to divide up shifts other than into units of 4 or 8 hours?!

When we arrived at 6 a.m. from the parking lot we could already hear angry voices rising from the waiting area. There was tension in the air, people were climbing up over turnstiles, a crowd was waiting by the humanitarian gate. Our colleagues, the Ecumenical Accompaniers, present at the site since 4:30 a.m., told us that tension mounted before the changing of the guards at 6 a.m. The woman soldier responsible for opening the turnstiles was asleep most of the time, and when she woke up occasionally to open them, she let only a small number of people through. Only 3 out of the 5 “sleeves” (checking passages) were opened at 6 a.m. The rest opened only towards 6:30 a.m. Even after the shift change, a small number of people waiting (around 25-30) were allowed to cross at a time, and waiting for every opening lasted no less than 10 minutes.  When the humanitarian gate was opened at 6:20, many men were pushed towards the gate in an attempt to force their way in. We realized that, unlike the usual routine, the officers allowed everyone through today, regardless of age.  Later they got back to their usual procedures and checked the age of passers, taking away permits from men who were not eligible to use the humanitarian gate.
(Confiscating IDs, even for a short while, is against the law, says a regional general’s edict !)  (Qalandiya, December 13th, 2011)

Ambulance passage
An ambulance waits on the Palestinian side of the checkpoint, at the edge of the north roundabout. In the ambulance sits a Gazan woman, a cancer patient. She has been hospitalized at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, taken to Ramallah for radiation treatment, and is on her way back to Jerusalem. The driver reported he has been waiting for an hour and a half at the roundabout, because the soldiers claim his passage has not been coordinated with the Israeli authorities. The driver insists that it has been coordinated and that he would not have made the journey without it. In the meantime, another ambulance arrives and continues through into the checkpoint. We thought he would be turned back as we;, no, he was not. After a brief check he was allowed to proceed south. We called the war-room for the third time, asking to let the ambulance through with the Gazan patient. A very polite soldier said he was trying his best to help, and did not mention any difficulty with coordination. We called the ‘terminals’ unit. A woman soldier answered that she was just taking care of this issue and would affirm passage for the ambulance shortly. At 4:15 the ambulance was called to proceed to the checkpoint at long last. After a 10-minute inspection it was allowed through to the parking lot on the Israeli side, where the woman was transferred to a Jerusalem ambulance. ] (Qalandiya, December 12th, 2011)

Checkpoint innovation
6:25 – After months of our protesting the lack of shelter from the rain and sun for people waiting in line, a huge tent has been stretched above the checking posts. But only there… while nothing protects the area where the Palestinian have to stand waiting. The line is long and drivers say they wait for an hour for the workers they are to transport. Reserves soldiers and an officer are present, but they do nothing to shorten the waiting period by adding another soldier to the manual registration. They claim it’s no big deal for the workers to wait in line, they have to wait for their transport later anyway… (Azzun Atma, )December 8th, 2011

Merrily walking to school
Today the registration of names is meticulous and the waiting line grows and grows. 25 people have been checked including children, and procedures are very slow for a small checkpoint where a limited number of people need to cross, all familiar to the checkpoint shifts. Children are inspected as well. We notice a little child wiping his tears. He has been turned back, with his school bag. He is 10-years old, from Sheikh Sa’ed, has a printed certificate from the Jabl Mukabar school, but he forgot his birth certificate at home. In the meantime, another three children return who had been turned back: a 12-year old girl with a school card and birth certificate, same for a 13-year old boy, and a friend of his, 12-years old, whose two parents are Jerusalemites living in Armon Hanatziv. He has slept over at his grandmother’s in Sheikh Sa’ed and has no birth certificate on him nor school card. They all are prevented from getting to school today. Time passes, and in spite of our pleas, the soldiers do not relent and do not let the children through to avoid being late to school. In the meantime, the Jabl Mukabar high school principal has arrived at the checkpoint and asks the soldiers to let him take with him the child who had slept over at his grandmother’s: he is the child’s uncle and testifies that the parents live in Jerusalem and the child studies at Jabl Mukabar. A heated dispute ensues, and the soldiers are adamant: “How can a child be allowed through without papers? Anyone can come along and say he’s his uncle or grandfather…” (Sheikh Sa’ed, December 13th, 2001)

Law Enforcement
It’s a glorious winter day. The rain has already come and the fields are green. The ground is ripe and only waits for the plough, the seeds and the planters. But not in Wadi al Rasha. The court has ruled to move the Wall, and now “the situation has to be reversed”, but this is perceived differently by different people. We expected to see ploughed fields and happy farmers tending them. What did we find? The Wall has indeed been taken down and the road destroyed. And all this rubble was ground to dust and spread over the farmland. The court ruling was respected, but as is wont with the Occupation authorities, enforced in a way that makes the farming plots unfarmable. All rubble.  
Interesting what the honored judges would say about the interpretation of their ruling. (Wadi Al-Rasha, December 13th, 2001)

It has been twelve years now, since we began to monitor these sights regularly: we are not indifferent, now shall we cease to sound the alarm.

During 2009, Israel removed some of the restrictions it had imposed at the start of the second intifada on the movement of Palestinians within the West Bank.  As a result, travel on main highways between Palestinian urban centers is much easier today, after vehicles and pedestrians have been allowed to cross through some major checkpoints.  But despite these improvements, Palestinians still do not have freedom of movement in the West Bank.  The remaining restrictions on movement in the West Bank are aimed at channeling Palestinians to a number of central checkpoints, thereby controlling traffic throughout the West Bank.  These restrictions reflect Israel’s view that the basic right of Palestinians to freedom of movement is a privilege that it can grant or deny as it sees fit.  The restrictions interfere with the Palestinians’ right to freedom of movement and, as a result, undermine other basic rights, such as the right to receive appropriate medical care, education and work, and to create and maintain economic, social and family relationships. (“B’Tselem”:  The Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Territories, January, 2009-April, 2010).

Israel’s policies in the Occupied Territories are implemented by an extensive and oppressive bureaucratic regime run by the Civil Administration.  It operates according to criteria that apply to collectivities rather than to individual needs.  It is thus able to maintain full control over a population that has been suppressed for decades.

The following accounts exemplify the reality we confront:  In a word - despair.

Etzion DCO:  It’s 3:15 in the afternoon, business as usual – the parking lot is full, indicating what it’s like in the waiting room.  About 20 people are jammed before the revolving gates, a dozen are seated and, over in a corner, three people are eating sunflower seeds.  They say they’ve been there since morning, but that doesn’t seem to upset them.  For some, of course, it isn’t their first time.  The soldier who’s supposed to be behind the window comes and goes.  The Palestinians crowd around the two revolving gates, preventing us from speaking to the soldier when he does appear.  Phone calls to the humanitarian office don’t help very much.  Perhaps one of the calls results in one of the gates creaking around to admit a few people.  Others, including women with little children, immediately rush toward the gates.  The previous scene returns.  Telephone calls to headquarters don’t improve matters either.  Since the DCO will soon close for the day, we demand that a DCO representative tell those waiting how many more will be dealt with today so the others won’t have to wait fruitlessly.  Why make them wait for nothing?  But nothing happens.  “It’s congested,” they tell us.  “Technical problems with the printer,” they add.  Why should today be any different?...  People who need an urgent crossing permit also arrive.  They manage to enter the office only with great difficulty.  The others waiting endlessly don’t hurry to make way for them.  One person must climb over them.  The rate at which people come out of the office is extremely slow.  Only one lucky person emerged after renewing his magnetic card during the entire time we were there.  He waited in the Holy of Holies – the inner office – from one in the afternoon.  A merchant who’d had a permit for three years, isn’t on the Shabak or the police blacklist, and has all the required documents, received a permit for…one day!  “We’ll check,” they told him, “come back in a week, maybe longer.”  He’s fuming.  Two other men seeking permits are sent back to whence they came, to the Palestinian DCO.  They’re disappointed, because the situation there is no different.  No one will listen to them.  At 4:20 in the afternoon, half a dozen men and women give up and leave.  They’re right.  The shutter over the window comes down at 4:30.  “See you next week,” they say.  Did we already mention despair?  (Bethlehem and the surrounding area, 26.12.10, afternoon)

Complaints received by phone

Qalandiya checkpoint:  Palestinians with blue ID cards (Israeli ID cards) arriving at the checkpoint by bus are required to get off and go through the checkpoint on foot…  The bus drives about 20 meters to the other side of the checkpoint without passengers; they reboard after being inspected.  A physician who’s worked for years at Sha’arei Tzedeq Hospital complained about how rudely he’s told to get off the bus, even though, as medical staff, he’s not obligated to do so.  We complained on his behalf, and received this response:  “It turned out that everybody had some excuse to stay on the bus.  So what was the point of erecting such an elaborate pedestrian crossing?”

“Dangerous individuals”:  For years, Y. has been the head of a religious institution in Bethlehem for children with special needs.  Every year they take the children on field trips, each child accompanied by a teacher or counselor.  Each of the children and the escorts needs an entry permit to Israel.  Before the most recent trip, to the safari in Ramat Gan, it turned out that four children hadn’t received permits.  The reasons:  three were still listed at their parents’ address, not that of the institution in Bethlehem.  When we investigated, we learned that the Etzion DCO isn’t allowed to issue permits to people whose residential address falls outside the area it’s authorized to deal with!  In the computer era?!  The fourth child, 14 years old, was on the Shabak’s blacklist.  This “Shabak blacklisted kid” is severely retarded, doesn’t speak and is still in diapers.  “A bureaucratic mistake”!  Long live the little mistake…

The student:  L. received an unusually generous scholarship to a prestigious program at Tel Aviv University.  The scholarship covers tuition, dormitory fees, board and expenses.  The Civil Administration issued an entry permit allowing her to remain in Tel Aviv each day until 7 PM.  The program includes evening activities.  Requests to allow her to remain overnight in Tel Aviv were repeatedly denied, but after a long procedure were finally approved.  We tried to find out what the problem was.  “Those are the criteria.”  Why?  “There are reasons.”  Reasons that apply only after 7 PM?  An impervious, arbitrary bureaucracy.

The cases reported above testify to how bureaucratic opacity creates absurd situations that have no relation whatsoever to security considerations.  Even when they’re finally resolved, they leave in their wake hostility and growing rancor.

Considering the dire economic situation in the Occupied Territories, and the shortage of working hands in the State of Israel, the authorities' policy of issuing permits to Palestinians workers is truly curious, to put it mildly.

A Palestinian interested in working inside Israel cannot apply for a work permit unless an Israeli employer is willing to take him on and apply for a permit on his behalf. How would a Palestinian find an Israeli employer when he is not allowed into Israel in the first place? Moreover, if an Israeli employer who desperately needs working hands wishes to open a file for employing Palestinian workers, he finds himself entangled in a bureaucratic thicket. In fact, the authorities fully intend to prevent the employment of Palestinian workers.

A further obstacle for employers and workers alike is the accumulated hardships encountered in the daily crossing of Israel's entry checkpoints. The time needed for passage can change from day to day and often stretches over hours on end. Long waiting entails the loss of work days and livelihood. Workers give up, despair of arriving on time to their workplace, and the employers - tired of frequent tardiness and absence - seek alternatives to the Palestinian work force.

Workers who have worked for years inside Israel sometimes find themselves suddenly blacklisted by the Israeli Security Services, without any warning or explanation for the sudden prevention. They had worked for years to the full satisfaction of their Israeli employers, who now face a wall. Everything is hidden under the guise of ‘security'. Thousands of Palestinian workers are declared as ‘security-prevented'. If the Palestinian worker does arrive at the designated meeting with the Security Services agents, he often hears the key phrase: "You help us, and we'll help you. If not - you'll never be issued a work permit."

Palestinians whose applications are turned down due to security-prevention may appeal. However, for a very long time now there is no clear address to appeal such refusals. Not only the regulations and procedures are frequently changed, the authority keeps shifting as well. If the body handling the appeals has changed, there is no updating. The new authority supposed to handle employers has no idea of its new assignment.

In the twentieth-first century, applicants for government ministries' services can do so via email or fax. Not so at the civil administration. There the applicants need to set an appointment by telephone with an official and report to him in person: and the phone does not answer. Or - "decides" not to answer.

The case of N. represents dozens of workers and employers who have tried to contest their security-refusals in the past nine months.

N. is in his thirties, a father of children. Until mid-July he held a permit and worked for a firm in Jerusalem. His employer's application to renew the permit was turned down. Explanation: N. was declared GSS (security) prevented.
In early August 2009 the employer appealed to the unit handling permits at the civil administration to reverse the situation.
As no answer arrived, he sent another application two months later, this time with a copy to the head of the civil administration and its legal adviser.
No answer was received. Towards the end of October 2009, an application was sent to the head of the civil administration, noting the names of dozens of workers who had not received any answer to their appeals, including that of N.
Towards the end of October, appeal procedures were changed. The employer sent a form to the new address, this time inside Israel, to the authority designated to issue permits.
As of February 14th 2010, no answer has been received.

N. is merely one of many, and is still one of the fortunates whose employer is interested and committed to make the necessary efforts, and repeat the application process again and again.

Such conduct constitutes a grave violation of human rights. Beginning with the unbearable lightness in which the General Security Services blacklists people without even questioning them, and with the insurmountable difficulties of contesting their new status. The entire process is unreasonable. Is it intended to deter employers from taking on Palestinian workers? Or is it the aim of keeping the Palestinian population in a constant state of uncertainty and economic insecurity, in order to create a pool of potential collaborators?

Many millions were invested in the construction of the Bethlehem Checkpoint ("Rachel Crossing") "according to the international standards of border crossings in a way that will provide for security needs" (Israel Police on YNET, 7.12.2005). The checkpoint is supposed to regulate the passage of Palestinians into Jerusalem and tourists on their way to the Church of the Nativity inside Bethlehem.

About 2500 Palestinians cross the checkpoint every day. The entrance to the checkpoint is a narrow passage with a 60 cm. wide metal turnstile. There are three checking posts conducting body searches, but only two of them are active. Naturally these conditions create a bottleneck during peak-hours. After the body inspection passers reach the ID checking posts. There they present the palm of their hand for biometric inspection, their magnetic card and travel permit. The checkpoint is opened for Palestinians at 5 a.m., and by 7 a.m. they are supposed to be through. Tourists are allowed passage with their passports only, through the same narrow paths, and they witness the horrific crowding.

Lately we have been receiving desperate calls from people at the checkpoint about the unbearable situation there during morning peak-pressure. Our phone complaints all week have been to no avail.

Here is a description of a single, random morning:

04:15 - the entry line stretches far beyond the car park. Having learned from their recent experience, many arrive two or three hours ahead of official opening time, and sleep in front of the checkpoint entrance.
04:45 - the main entrance to the checkpoint compound is opened and the first group of passers enters.
05:20 - one sleeve opens, the second is ‘out of order'.
05:49 - the dysfunctional sleeve is now in operation.
By now unrest is growing among the waiting workers. People are in a hurry to get to work and lose their patience. On the Israeli side of the checkpoint, many employers and buses await the workers. We hear a ‘rumble' on the Palestinian side, out of our field of vision.
We learn that this week all - every single one - of the inspectors have been replaced! They have finished their army service, and ‘there are no new volunteers'. We cannot believe out own ears. Is this how the ‘most-moster-mostest' (Moral? Efficient?) army in the world manages its activity?
06:25 - few have gone through the checks. Exiting, they tell us what happens at the checking sleeves. The yells are clearly heard. We complained to the Israeli police Crossings Administration - the DCO representative on the spot, as well as to the army hotline. The answer: it will be looked into and sorted out. In spite of the tension, not a single ‘blue' (civilian) police officer is in sight. The DCO representative listens to our complaint, as usual, keeps crossing from side to side in an attempt to relieve the situation, but in vain. The situation worsens. The people on their way out turn to us in desperation - "Even animals are treated better than we are". Every few minutes one of the sleeves fails to function - again and again.
07:00 - phone call to the deputy commander of Etzyon DCO. He listens, but nothing changes on the ground. Chaos everywhere, shouts are heard from all directions. On the Israeli side, the soldiers are sprawled idle in their seats at the checking posts, since the Palestinians are not let through from the other side.
Two employees of the private firm that operates the checkpoint are seen walking around. One of them, looking particularly jolly, either tipsy or drugged, walks from post to post laughing merrily and getting in the way of the fortunates who finally make it to the last post before exiting. At post no 5 the turnstile is not functioning and passers are forced to leap over it - which does not seem to disturb anyone.
Still, the ‘civilian' guards are busy heftily chasing away people awaiting the passage of their relatives or friends. They charge at them as if war had just broken out!
07:30 - At the Palestinian entry to the checkpoint the end of the queue is still out of sight. People try to get ahead of each other; youngsters hop over fences - since many have already lost their day's work. The situation in the ‘humanitarian' line is not much better: many women and elderly people give up and to back home.
More desperate appeals for help: we call the ‘crossings administration' ("I am not responsible for the Palestinian side" - inconceivable! - who then is responsible for the checkpoint's not functioning? How did this chaos come about? Because of Palestinian conduct or because of the way the checkpoint is run?) Asking why no policeman was in sight, we were told he would arrive later (When? When no longer needed?).
08:00 - The situation goes from bad to worse. People coming out beg of us to do something.
08:20 - Glory be! The policeman arrives running, headed for the sleeves. The pace picks up a bit - but those crossing now have already missed their chance to put in a full day of work. More and more people turn to us, each in his own special way, and tell us what they have been through this past week. The private company employees explain to the complainers that they are to blame for not knowing how to stand properly in line.
09:40 - The pressure is finally off.
(Bethlehem, 5.11.09)

When Bethlehem Checkpoint was opened a few years ago, a tourist guide reported to YNET that: "With the upgrading of the compound, the security forces ‘managed' to produce for tourists a concentrated version of the Palestinian experience. The tourists now personally live through the humiliation process of the checkpoint as well as life behind the wall." Response: The Minister of Tourism in the previous government proposed to construct a separate crossing for tourists...

ATTENTION, CIVIL ADMINISTRATION:
In a tour which the Civil Administration conducted for ‘peace organizations', among other things, the following was said: "Have you any idea what an increase the past two years have seen in traffic accidents throughout the West Bank? And why is that? Well? Because the checkpoints have been removed and there is nothing now to stop reckless driving..."
Perhaps checkpoints and barriers should be erected throughout the State of Israel as a measure of lessening traffic accidents?!

The participants of this tour were asked to let the Palestinians know that the army's humanitarian hotline answers any call, 24 hours a day. One of the participants asked: "If a Palestinian calls the hotline at 2 a.m. after soldiers entered his home, smashed electrical appliances and kitchen ware, turned all the closets inside out and trashed everything they found, what answer would he get?" She was told, "Any question posed in real time will be answered immediately. Even if the Palestinian would call at 2 a.m."
The answer we usually get is "We're looking in to it". In the meantime, the house goes up in flames...

 

"NO CHECKPOINTS'- WHERE HAS THE OCCUPATION GONE???

"The Civil Administration will manage the civil affairs of the area... to the best interests and welfare of the population, providing public services and operating them, considering the need to maintain proper administration and public order"(from edict no. 947 of the Military Government)

This definition of the Civil Administration's duties (actually replacing military rule) obliges it to provide the Palestinians with a reasonable fabric of life.

In fact, their whole life routine depends upon receiving various permits issued by the regional offices of the Civil Administration (DCOs). MachsomWatch volunteers monitoring these offices have witnessed the outright tendency to turn this service into an ongoing nightmare. What appears to be inefficiency is, in actual fact, an effective apparatus of curbing the Palestinians' freedom of movement - a successful mode of control and oppression. Obtaining permits is considered a sort of ‘privilege' depending on the applicant's ability to prove ‘he/she has a justified reason' to wish to enter Israel and Jerusalem. Consequently, the procedure of issuing permits is not transparent nor clear, and is perceived by the Civil Administration as exceptional - for the rule is to keep Palestinians out, on the whole.

The magnetic card that is issued Palestinians in addition to the IDs they hold is a biometrical document that identifies their fingerprints and photographs their eye fundus. No entry permits for trade and commerce, prayer, family visits or even medical treatment are obtainable without it. At present the magnetic card is issued at large, and the government intends to issue such cards soon to all Israeli residents as well. The topic is up for discussion at the Knesset these days, and has aroused considerable public objection for its invasion of privacy. But privacy of the Palestinian individual is, naturally, not as hallowed as the Israeli/Jewish one. What can be more ‘legitimate' than blatant invasion of Palestinian privacy - after all this is about ‘state security'!

After days of standing in line, M., from the South Hebron Hills, managed to enter the Hebron DCO and received his long-awaited magnetic card. Innocently he assumed he would now be able to receive an entry permit into Israel for work purposes. Learning that for this he still had to seek an Israeli employer who would be willing to appeal to the employment officer at the Civil Administration on his behalf and fill all the bureaucratic chores required, only to hear that M. is in fact ‘security(GSS)-prevented' - M. was helpless. How will he find an Israeli employer when he cannot even enter Israel to look for one? In the meantime M. wondered why and wherefore he is prevented. This naïve person thought that turning to the GSS and asking, clarifying the reasons for being blacklisted would help. And how would he reach the GSS? Where will he find that ‘Captain Johnnie' who would see him and explain? Despair.

The man found us and asked for help. And we wondered what do all the thousands of Palestinians do who do not know of human rights organizations that exist and are there to offer assistance? (Telephone query. The man's name is kept in the Machsomwatch archive)

For years, W. worked for an airline in East Jerusalem. Upon firing her, the employers refused to pay her severance and other fees she deserved as a regular employee. W. turned to the Tel Aviv Labor Court and placed charges against her employers. When applying for an entry permit to Israel to appear at court, she was refused. Why? -Because W. is security(GSS)-prevented.  Why...?

W. turned to us for help and eventually managed to reach her court session. Sounds reasonable? Not to us. Why should a human rights organization have to intervene in order for W. to access the court and exercise her right to receive the remuneration she deserves by law? (Name reserved in Machsomwatch archive)

L. is mother to a girl suffering from an incurable, degenerative disease. L. is married to a resident of East Jerusalem, but they have no ‘family unification' arrangement. Their ailing daughter is hospitalized at a Jerusalem institution.

Her care-giving requires 24 hour attendance. You guessed it. L. is GSS-prevented.  She even knows why - her brother is imprisoned in Israel. When the daughter was newly hospitalized, her father visited her regularly, but he works (a guard employed by a employment contractor) and cannot miss his shifts so often. L. who had been a teacher resigned so as to be near her child. But the powers that be looked to that... They discovered the Gordian knot between the imprisoned uncle and the dying niece.

Upon our query, asking for special consideration, the Civil Administration officials suggested that a family member who is not prevented - perhaps the girl's grandmother? - might do. We insisted, and L. got her permits. Would we ever consider NOT staying at our ailing child's beside? (Name reserved in Machsomwatch archive)

Often when one spouse is blacklisted, the authorities suggest another relative will be found to accompany him/her to medical treatments. A woman has to go for cancer hospital treatments without her husband... A child without one of its parents... Fertility treatments are to be undergone without one's spouse... If the mother, usually not prevented, also has a newborn baby still nursing, and another six toddlers at home, and cannot accompany her ailing child, who will? What would happen if we were to be treated thus? The earth would shake at our protests - but these are Palestinians, under occupation, ‘state security risks'...?

H. works in close proximity to his home. For years H. has crossed the street, just a few steps away, and reported to his workplace. One morning he learned this was over. Now, holding his magnetic card, he must cross at a ‘control point' so that ‘we can check whether he really went home, and prevent a dangerous infiltrator from reaching far and wide in Israel'. The detour expected of him stretches to 40 km from his home and workplace. Naturally on the new way now imposed on him, he must bypass many Israeli settlements (which he does not seem to jeopardize), whereas before he would cross a road and directly be at his workplace. Only GSS and the Civil Administration - and maybe God - know why. (Name and details reserved in Machsomwatch archive)

Those Palestinians applying for various permits at the Civil Administration offices who are refused, usually hear a laconic reply - "entry denied". At times they even receive this reply in writing.  And what is written there - "criteria-denied", "GSS-denied", "Operations-denied". Got it? Know what to do about it? The Palestinians know even less what this is about - we call it cruelty per se.

We have often sounded the alert about communication difficulties between the soldiers and Palestinians. The former speak Hebrew and the latter Arabic and in between the loudspeaker screeches and bleeps and even very intelligent keen hearers would not be able to decipher the sounds. The Civil Administration soldiers learn Arabic in a course that lasts... how long? Two weeks. "Irja, irja" - get back! - one can pick up in two weeks. But "Please, thank you" and some other necessary explanations might take two months, even a few more?

These days, several main checkpoints and barriers in the depth of the West Bank have been fully or partially removed. We appreciate this fact and hope that this is only the beginning of removing obstacles and restoring the Palestinians' freedom of movement.

VILLAGES AND NEIGHBORHOODS SURROUND JERUSALEM

This monthly alert focuses on neighborhoods in the Jerusalem area inhabited by both Palestinians who bear blue IDs (residents of the State of Israel) and those who bear green IDs (subjects of the Palestinian Authority). The hub of life for these neighborhoods is Jerusalem proper with all of its municipal services - health, education, sources of livelihood etc. The roads connecting these neighborhoods to Jerusalem have all been blocked and they remain isolated and disconnected, and without a definite, clear civil status.

Nabi Samawil (Nebi Samuel)

This neighborhood is situated between the Jewish settlements of Ramot and Giv'at Ze'ev, close to the historic site Nabi Samawil which, according to tradition, is the burial place of the prophet Samuel and is sacred to both Jews and Muslims. The Israeli army has cut off Nabi Samawil  from the rest of the West Bank and isolated it almost completely. The isolation of the village and its 220 inhabitants is one of many acts of annexation that Israel conducts throughout the West Bank. Since the 1970s Israel has restricted construction in the village. This restriction even prevents repairing damages in existing buildings. The residents are prevented from enlarging their dwellings. Dozens of young married couples are forced to relocate to other areas.

Have we mentioned 'natural growth' and 'normal life'?

The village of Nu'man

This village is situated south-east of Har Homa settlement. It was annexed by Jerusalem after the 1967 war. The villagers were erroneously registered as residents of the West Bank, thus becoming illegal aliens in their own homes. Instead of correcting this bureaucratic mishap, the State has been using it to force the inhabitants out of their home village.

In 1992 the villagers were informed that they were forbidden to build houses or expand existing ones. In 1996 their children were removed from the school they had attended in Umm Tuba (annexed to Jerusalem), under the claim that they were residents not of Jerusalem but of the West Bank - in spite of the fact that the Separation Wall was built east of the village, between it and the Palestinian village Al Has. The children now go to school in Al Has. On their way to and from school, they must cross the checkpoint where their schoolbags are inspected. The villagers receive no services from the Jerusalem municipality, except for paying heavy fines on 'illegal construction'.

Sheikh Sa'ad

Sheikh Sa'ad and Jabal Mukabar are both a part of West Sawahra. In 1967 only the Jabal Mukabar area was annexed by Jerusalem, while the Seikh Sa'ad area remained an official part of the West Bank. In time, families from Jabal Mukabar have moved over to Seikh Sa'ad as a result of 'natural growth', and most of them possess Jerusalem resident IDs. There is merely a narrow street separating Jabal Mukabar and Sheikh Sa'ad. All of the services needed by the residents, such as health, education and burial, as well as family relations are all in Jabal Mukabar, a part of the Jerusalem municipal jurisdiction.

The planned route of the Separation Wall was meant to disconnect Sheikh Sa'ad from Jabal Mukabar. The residents appealed to the court and in March 2006 their petition was accepted and the court ruled that the wall would pass by the neighborhood on the east and its residents - both Jerusalem ID holders and those who are not - would be practically included in the Jerusalem municipal jurisdiction. On May 23^rd 2006 the State petitioned the High Court of Justice to repeal this ruling, claiming it disregarded the security ramifications of the alternative route, and that it would rather harm the villagers even more. This petition is still pending.

Until the High Court rule on the issue, a checkpoint has been set up at the exit from Sheikh Sa'ad towards Jabal Mukabar, preventing vehicular traffic. For years the vehicles of Sheikh Sa'ad residents have been trapped inside the neighborhood so that even fuel has to be carried over in 'jerricans'. Lately a road from the village into the West Bank has been repaired. For Sheikh Sa'ad residents holding Palestinian IDs, leaving the village into Jabal Mukabar on foot entails a special permit from the Civil Administration. Most applications for such a permit are refused.

Contrary to these 'orphan' neighborhoods, denied any kind of proper local administration, there are other neighborhoods in the Jerusalem municipal area subject to a different sort of catch, 'belonging' to both administrations: Walajeh in the southern outskirts of the city, vis-à-vis the Biblical Zoo, and Kufr 'Akeb and Semiramis in northern Jerusalem.

Walajeh village

The northern neighborhood of Walajeh, called 'Ein Juwaize**, was annexed to Jerusalem in 1967. No one knew this - the municipality did not collect city taxes there nor provide public services. Suddenly, the Jerusalem Municipality began to issue demolition orders for houses built without construction permits. The inhabitants, a few of whom possess blue IDs, and most of whom hold green (Palestinian) IDs, have always obtained public services from the neighboring town of Beit Jala, and worked in Jerusalem. Since the routing of the Separation Wall, Walajeh residents are prevented entry into Jerusalem, although they are officially city residents.

Kafr 'Aqb and Semiramis - Jerusalem beyond the Wall

Both Kafr 'Aqb and Semiramis, situated in the southern outskirts of Ramallah, were annexed to Jerusalem in 1967 and remained beyond the Separation Wall north of Jerusalem. The residents, some of whom bear Israeli IDs and others Palestinian IDs, pay city taxes to the Jerusalem municipality, but do not receive any municipal services. The adjacent neighborhoods, without any clear physical division, are actually a part of the Ramallah municipal area. Israeli ID holders who work in Jerusalem must cross the Qalandiya Checkpoint every single day, with all the hardship this entails.

 On Security Services Dealings

"You'll help us and we'll help you" or "Come hither, go thither"

The State of Israel is signatory to the Geneva Convention. Are the clauses of this convention implemented in the Occupied Palestinian Territories?

Many thousands of the Occupied Territories residents are designated "security prevented". This is used as the grounds for restricting their freedom of movement, they are deprived of permits to enter Israel and to travel abroad. The Israeli Security Services are in charge of their prevention, and it is this authority that determines their fate without any outside supervision, accountability or anyone's ability to appeal. Security prevention blocks access to health services, employment and sources of livelihood, and other vital services that do not even exist in the Occupied Territories. Any Palestinian living in the Territories might suddenly find him/herself on the prevented list under circumstances that are not necessarily his or her own directly. For example: Relatives or even acquaintances of a person killed by the Israeli armed forces are considered motivated to carry out terrorist attacks. They are thus designated as 'potentially dangerous' and marked on the Security Services lists as prevented.

Any contact with the Security Services inevitably involves harassment, intimidation, the exertion of psychological pressure and humiliation.

Since 1967, the Israeli armed forces have recruited thousands of Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories as informers. The Palestinians have to cooperate, among other reasons, for their extensive dependence on receiving civil services from the Israeli administration. In their attempts to recruit collaborators, the military authorities apply methods violating international law, such as allowing services that the occupied population is entitled to under conditions of collaboration, extortion, pressure and tempting offers. Whoever does not cooperate with 'irresistible offers' finds him/herself blacklisted as Shabak (Security Services) - prevented.

People summoned by the Shabak - whom we encounter at the offices of the Civil Administration, waiting at times from morning till evening only to hear that they must return some other day - have the 'privilege' of being 'visited' in the wee hours of the night at home to be asked for their son's phone number, or to be informed of being added to the black lists. When a Palestinian requests a permit to work in Israel or needs to cross checkpoints in a case of emergency - an urgent visit to the hospital, a trip abroad or some personally critical circumstances etc. - he/she suddenly discovers his/her name on the black list. The reasons for a Shabak investigation and its results are never made privy to the person in question.

Psychological torment does not usually create the kind of public echo as does physical torture, although both are equally and categorically outlawed by international norms.

Here are several recent cases:

A Palestinian we met as he waited at the DCO offices, has been trying for a long time now to obtain a magnetic card (mandatory for being issued permits) but he is Shabak-prevented. His ID was taken by the DCO soldiers. We try to inquire where the ID is and hear that the man will be summoned for a Shabak interview. He does not know the reason for this.

Another man has been waiting for a Shabak interview for three hours. We are not surprised. Such long waiting is a daily matter. As we get ready to leave, the man exits, holding his ID and a piece of paper summoning him at a later date. Another workday down the drain, and who will guarantee that he will indeed be interviewed at that later date - only Shabak knows.

Two Palestinians wait for a Shabak interview. The mother of one of them suffers from heart disease and is hospitalized in Jordan. The man is back from visiting and nursing her. When he requested an exit permit to travel to Jordan, he was issued an exit permit together with a summons to report for a 'talk' with the Shabak upon his return.

There are 25 detainees in the pen. Occasionally they are taken in for a talk with the Shabak representative. The wife of one of them and his father wait nearby. The woman, pregnant, tells us she has been waiting for over an hour and is exhausted. Her husband works in Abu Dabi and has arrived for a mere two-week visit.

A 60-year old man approaches us: he has been working for the past 15 years in an Israeli garage. He has never had any problems with the authorities and crosses the checkpoint daily, morning and evening. This morning, upon arriving at the checkpoint he was told he is Shabak-prevented and sent to the DCO, handed in his ID and was told to wait in the waiting room. He has been waiting since 9 a.m. Only late afternoon he was actually told that he is indeed Shabakp-prevented. In his talk with the Shabak 'Captain', he heard that 'you'll help us, we'll help you'. Since the man had nothing to 'help' them with, his permit was denied and thus - his livelihood.

We arrived at the DCO at 14:30. There were five people waiting since 9 a.m. summoned by the Shabak to see the 'Captain'. Their IDs were taken from them as they arrived in the morning, to make sure they remained on the spot. While we were there, one of them was called in and his ID was returned - it had been a mistake, 'we don't need you'. It is the second time this past year that he has been summoned, and at the end of an entire day's wait, he is sent home. Who cares if a Palestinian loses a day's work?

A young man approaches us, and tells us that his brother has finished his medical studies abroad and been employed as a doctor by an East Jerusalem hospital, but the Shabak has demanded that he be willing to act as an informer, in order to receive the required magnetic card.

In the DCO waiting room, about 15 persons have been waiting since morning to be interviewed by the Shabak. One of them, a Hebrew-speaker, told us he came with his son who was summoned from his home in the middle of the night. In addition to his son, a student at the Hebron College, there were another four youngsters there, like him. The summoning process they described is harrowing: soldiers arrive sometime between 1 and 3 a.m., bang loudly on the door, and if not answered immediately, break a window. Blinding lights are turned on into the house, all the neighbors are subject to their yelling, they hand the family the summons note and clear out. No one knows why the summons, what about. Often, when the person summoned shows up on time, he must wait until the end of the workday at the DCO offices only to hear that he must return the following morning or week. Another person told us that when the soldiers came to his house at night, the wanted son was not at home. The soldiers ordered him to report the next morning with another son as well as the wanted son. The three waited all day at the DCO, although it was obvious the Shabak was interested only in one of them.

At the DCO waiting room sat 12 men, most of them waiting for Shabak interviews. One of them addressed us in fluent Hebrew and said he's been waiting since 9 a.m. At 2:30 a.m. a Shabak summons for his son was delivered to their home. The son is not home (he is in Ramallah) and the worried father reported to the DCO to inquire what this was about. He handed his ID in the morning and now he's sitting there and waiting. He has severe back pain projecting into his leg. He happens to have a doctor's appointment today, but had to give it up to report to the DCO. After an hour the man was called in. Five minutes later he came out and told us that all they wanted from him was the son's phone number... He was forced to sit there for almost a whole day!

We met a man who had never had a magnetic card. He came to apply for one, without any hopes of getting it. He was number 4 in the waiting line so that the 'daily quota of magnetic cards for prevented persons' could not have been an issue. Still he was sent home. The man would not give up and we applied to the public inquiries officer of the civil administration. The officer spoke with the DCO and the man was asked to wait. At the end of the day, he told us he was issued a magnetic card. We realized clearly that there is a conflict of interests between the Shabak who want to hold their fists tight, and the civil administration who want to equip the entire population with magnetic cards.

Between a rock and a hard place, if a person needs to be issued a magnetic card, why must he feel that it is a special favor for which he needs to pay 'something extra' beside the 100 shekels required and the entire day of waiting?

Cruelty and Stupidity galore

"A Jewish soldier sides with Jew, an Arab policeman sides with Arabs" (thus a phosphorescent slogan posted by Jewish-colonist civilians on the army's concrete slabs in every junction and within the checkpoint compound and other army barriers at Zaatara(Tapuach) and Huwwara.) (Huwwara, 9.11)

The X-ray truck is parked so that objects falling out of it after being inspected land directly in a muddy, filthy puddle. Not a sea, not a lake. A clearly limited puddle. But who sees, who cares? Certainly not those who position the white army X-Ray truck. Palestinian women in their long dresses invariably brushed the mire with their hems as they hurried to gather their belongings. (Huwwara, 2.11)

Two women-soldiers working the checking posts. They carry an incessant tirade of vulgar nonsense. Among other screeches: "Here's Yossi Bublil! (recent Israeli TV reality-show hero) Now isn't he the spitting image of Bublil?" "Come on, come on, man." "How do you say in Arabic 'tomato'? Bandora? You're a bandora head!" "Come hither, now!" (sic!) "You're bleeping. Strip." "Why are you limping, has anyone taken a shot at you?" (Huwwara, 2.11)

Fire breaks out west of Huwwara checkpoint, destroying fields and groves belonging to farmers of the Palestinian village Burin, near the Jewish colony Har Beracha. The DCO summons two fire-fighter trucks from Nablus. When these arrive at the checkpoint they are made to wait for an army vehicle escort because 'this road belongs to the colonists only' (!). By the time the escort arrives, the fire has devoured plots in an area that survived last week's arson. Around the burning plots, the colony-rabbi's vehicle was seen as well as an armored mini-tractor belonging to the colonists. Burin's local council chairman arrived at the site and stood there alone, helpless - once again, just as was the case last week, no one will be found and charged with arson. (Huwwara, 6.11)

Huge number of people, hundreds. Waiting time varies between half an hour at the beginning of our shift to over an hour at heavier moments. As usual lately, all the "order-keeping' by the very stressed soldiers and 'educating' the Palestinians constantly. the Military Policewomen's shrieks and vulgar gruffness is insupportable and incessant, and they are obviously a mental wreck. Soldiers are constantly coming over to chase away - with their typical hostile and rude hand gestures and shouts - all the men who stop a moment after coming out of the turnstiles to tuck their shirt back into their trousers and put their belts back on. All done 'Quick! Quick!' in order to maintain a 'sterile area' after being cleared by inspection. (Huwwara, 23.11)

About 150 pedestrians and 37 cars counted waiting to exit Nablus towards Beit Furik. The drivers coming from Beit Furik report hours of waiting at the checkpoint, especially in the last two weeks. (Beit Furik, 6.11)

This is how things have been running for years now, 'all for the sake of Israel's security'. And now, a week ago, all of a sudden and with no explanation, the vehicle restrictions for entry into Nablus have been removed at Beit Furik and Huwwara, and permits for the very same vehicles are no longer needed! A veritable time of miracles. Perhaps more checkpoints can finally be removed?

Etzion DCO

This is how it works: people slowly approach the officer to get a number for the waiting line. He stops handing out numbers and says, 'move back'. People move back, not enough; then he stops handing out numbers again. He turns his back and waits. Turns around again - no, they haven't moved back far enough. Finally, either the fellow handing out numbers gives in, or the people reach some imaginary line they should wait behind and the number distribution is resumed. Another break. All in the greatest courtesy. The officer handing out the numbers was consistently polite, but the procedure was most humiliating.

Finally all the numbers were issued, and several youngsters remained numberless. Stay or leave? Would more numbers be issued later? No one knows. It depends on the pace of the proceedings. What difference does it make? No one shows any consideration for Palestinians' time. (Bethlehem 2.11)

A man approached us: he had managed to enter after a long wait, but exited shortly thereafter. He wanted an appointment with the police representative, but learned that the official would not be around until Thursday. He was told that this information was posted outside. I went to look for such an announcement. Did not find any, neither on the door, not in the waiting hall. I asked the soldier whether a police representative is present inside. He let me in to see the announcement - indeed, on one of the walls of the inner room hung a police announcement specifying that no public reception would take place until Thursday. What's the point of posting information in an inner room that can only be entered by Palestinians after being issued a number for the waiting line, waiting for hours on end, and all this only in order to discover a written note revealing that all these efforts have been in vain, to be repeated at a later date? (Bethlehem, 12.11)

Checkpoint 300 - Bethlehem

Today was a good day. Traffic flowed. At 7 a.m. there were hardly any pedestrians. The recently upgraded equipment is effective. Every checking post is now equipped with a biometric stand and special slot for presenting the magnetic card (proving the holder cleared of any police or 'security' record): the pedestrian is then cleared for passage. One of the Palestinians told us that yesterday was a tough day. Perhaps, despite all this technology, the real problem is human and things simply and finally depend on the officer in charge of the checkpoint that day. (Bethlehem, 26.11)

Beitar Checkpoint

At the end of our shift we headed for Betar Illit colony. We crossed the checkpoint, where a clear sign announces "PASSAGE FOR ISRAELIS ONLY'.

Any Palestinian from the neighboring villages who needs to travel to his work in the Israeli localities such as Tzur Hadassah and holds the necessary permit to do so, must make a very long detour: cross the Bethlehem Checkpoint to the Israeli side, travel by service cabs via Ein Kerem to Nes Harim (all within the green line, Israeli localities neighboring Jerusalem) and thus arrive at the other side of the same checkpoint - at least an hour wasted. (Bethlehem, 17.11)

On Missing Education and Re-Education... Education (chinuch in Hebrew) as defined in Abraham Even Shoshan's New Hebrew Dictionary of 1993: the learning of habits, ways of thinking and coduct; developing manners and personal traits, character and spiritual traits. On kids, lies and IDF spokesperson...

Upon our arrival, we are greeted by a very anxious, very articulate father, describing out for us the following bit of surreal reality: Four seven-eight year old kids are being detained in the detainee pen at the checkpoint, he is not allowed to approach them, they have been caught by soldiers in a jeep and brought to the checkpoint for detention, as they were helping their neighbors pick olives in their olive grove near Beit Furiq village across the road. They have been in the pen for an hour now, the head of the village council is in the picture, the whole world is informed but nothing is moving.

We call the army "humanitarian" hotline, they promise to look into it. After ten minutes, we try again, the person we spoke to before is gone. We explain the scene to the new person who promises to look into it. We also report to our friend Noa, at home, who promises to call the DCO. Who in the meantime, we find out, is being approached by phone by other people from the village.

Time passes. In the meantime - in or out of context with the above - over one-hundred pedestrians are already crowded on the other side of the checkpoint, and a long long line of vehicles, all waiting to be inspected in order to be allowed to proceed from town home to their nearby village. The air is thick with tension.

Nothing new on the junior front. We call Raya who contacts journalist Nir Yahav who calls us and hears all the above from us directly. We call the army hotline again. This time, instead of a person, we get recorded music. Of the Jolly kind.

From the crowd beyond the checkpoint, louder and louder cries of impatience begin to emerge. In response, a very shrill siren is activated from the watch-shoot tower on the hill. For a long while. A terrifying noise.

On the phone front: the hotline responds to our next call as follows: "The detention is for security reasons. Their identities are being checked now. I am aware of their age. Had I thought their detention was ungrounded, I would act to set them free."

The little detainee community grows as a young and very agitated man is sent to the pen to learn the proper behavior in a crowded waiting line with his impatient neighbors.

Developments on the junior front: Two hours after the kids were first brought in.

the father is allowed to enter the pen and sit with them. Noa tells us on the phone that the DCO is on his way to the checkpoint. As she speaks, our eyes see the blessed sight of the father walking away from the pen, followed by the four kids, like four ducklings, shivering with cold (the soldiers did not allow anyone to bring them warmer clothes) but mighty proud of themselves. Home free.

Epilogue: Nir Yahav, the journalist who spoke to us in "real time", called the IDF spokesperson and received the following response: "These were three youngsters who threw stones towards Israeli vehicles traveling on the road next to Beit Furiq. They were held at the checkpoint until the Israeli civilian police arrived, at which time they were turned over to police procedures."

I repeat what my own eyes saw at the Beit Furiq Checkpoint: four children, ages 7-8, were brought by soldiers to the checkpoint and were detained there for two hours, unaccompanied inside the pen. Not youngsters. Not police. No procedures.

Seven-eight years old. (from their looks, I'd even say they were six years old). (Beit Furik, 19.10)

A young Palestinian man did not understand a soldier. Simple lack of understanding - he did not stand at the right spot, or did not raise the right foot. So this soldier suddenly jumps at him with his pointed gun and shows him what it means not to understand what he's being told. The Palestinian, amazed at the intensity of the reaction, raises his hands, saying "Alright, alright." These were soldiers of the educating type. Palestinians know that when they arrive at the checkpoint, they are supposed to stop about twenty meters away from the soldier, at some existing or imaginary line, receive permission in the form of a slight hand or finger signal, and only then approach the soldier.

Palestinian citizens of Israel ('Israeli Arabs' in common Jewish Israeli terminology), who after all live in some sort of democracy, approached the soldier at he checkpoint without waiting at any line. "Have you no manners?" the soldier wonders. "Can't you wait until I signal you? Now get back and wait until I do." The Israeli has no choice but to retreat and wait for the signal. The soldier signals him, and he approaches again. "Say, are you bored?" the Israeli asks the soldier and does not realize he is now in a different planet than the one he is familiar with. "You don't really want to see me when I am bored" says the soldier, who cannot for the life of him understand how an Arab at his mercy dare speak to him like this. (Huwwara, 1.10)

50-100 men lined up for inspection. The soldiers keep yelling at them to "get back!!"

A young man in the line wears a white cap. The soldiers take it from him and play around with it, put it on their heads, then on their helmets. Laugh. Finally - hand it back to him. (Huwwara, 14.10)

At the top of the checkpoint watchtower, a soldier singing - blaring - "Death to the Arabs!" while waving his arms like a conductor. The checkpoint commander stands at the foot of the tower and says nothing to the singing soldier. (Huwwara, 2.10)

As our tasks were done, the evening breeze blew and the sun touched down upon the horizon, two girls walked with me and told me how hard it was to study when anxiety hits - suddenly they looked at the house that had been taken over by the army and said to me: "Look, there are soldiers dancing on the roof." Three figures were indeed busy making strange movements on the roof, and their loud voices were singing what I recognized as "The People of Israel". Unfortunately, by the time I got my video camera out, they were gone like a nightmare. (Husan, 26.10)

The taxi park was empty, very few pedestrians coming or going. Which did not keep the woman-soldier from practicing her loudest "Come on!" and "Get going!" Fortunately we were there to ask her how she would feel if she had been yelled at like that. She said she didn't realize she was shouting, and she only does them a favor by raising her voice, otherwise they wouldn't hear her. Then she called out to them more gently and did not fail to add "Please", immediately giving us a triumphant look as if saying - see? I do learn. (Huwwara, 1.10)

Many people crowd in the lines waiting to proceed from Nablus on to various destinations in the West Bank. The lines move slowly, not because inspection is meticulous, but because of the 'order' drills practiced upon the people waitingin line. Anytime anyone of the hundreds waiting disobeys the orderly conduct instructions - does not keep quiet, sits on the concrete ledge separating the lines, pushes, laughs... - the soldiers halt everything for minutes on end, sometimes even 10 whole minutes at a time.

Two soldiers stand beyond the turnstiles, in direct contact with the people waiting in lines, and physically push them away from the turnstiles, yelling "get back". Violent confrontation is constant, and once in a while Palestinians break out in protest shouts and yell "God is great!" (Huwwara, 23.10)

WHAT HAS ALL THIS TO DO WITH ISRAEL'S SECURITY?

This Ramadan month was especially mean - it has been a long while since we've witnessed such hostile, aggressive conduct of soldiers towards Palestinians, clearly inspired by the checkpoint commander.

An elderly, elegant man tells us that he habitually cross the checkpoint through the special side line as befits his age. Today, however, the inspecting soldiers found a business card of... Machsomwatch in the cover of his ID. So they sent him to wait among the younger men in line! The commander, and soldiers like him keep chasing away any Palestinian daring to wait in the shade of the former detainee shed, shooing away loudly in a voice that resembles a dog's bark more than a human order. (Huwwara, 7.9)

Another day of Ramadan fasting in the suffocating heat. The Palestinians never stop arriving at the checkpoint. They are checked, held up, blocked, pushed back, humiliated. Three pedestrian checking posts - active. X-ray truck - active. Long, long waiting lines, very slow inspections, very stressed. The soldiers are tense, and their reactions keep fluctuating from fury to snide laughter. The special side line for women, children and the elderly stretches far beyond the shed, and moves extremely slowly. (Huwwara, 16.9)

A child leads an obviously blind woman along the vehicle checking lane. The soldiers brace themselves as they notice her. After making her wait for 10 minutes, the DCO representative lets them through. A man wielding a blind man's cane, arriving with his escort to the same vehicle checking lane, is made to go back to the side line and exits half an hour later. A man carrying a little girl whose legs are splayed wide in a plaster cast, crying and exhausted, have to wait by the concrete ledge until the mother returns from x-raying their luggage. Unbearably long negotiations with the soldiers, we are too far away to note details. There is a lot of 'action' during our shift: occasionally soldiers see someone 'leaking' out of the checkpoint and they chase him vigorously.

The first object of their chase was a retarded boy, and one of the soldiers (perhaps a MP) even fired a shot in the air. Immediately, 'life freeze' is declared in the checkpoint. Later, to officers and another MP arrive, apparently to look into what happened. In the next 'leaking' chases, no shots are fired. A MPwoman wonders: "Why life freeze? Because of a leaker? Come on, give me a break..."

A mother, speaking Arabic only, waits for her son. The MPwoman offers to call him from the line, but the commander prevents this: "Stand aside until he comes out", he tells her in perfect Hebrew.

Hours go by and the line does not end. More and more people arrive, wait, are blocked, evening comes, the fast is supposed to be broken but no - they are still stuck there. The soldiers laugh scornfully when we complain that a young man, limping on one leg, is sent with a dismissing gesture to go around and around to the turnstiles. (Huwwara, 14.9)

A vehicle is detained at the side of the road. In it are three elderly men who drove the road going to colonies Itamar and Elon More, an apartheid road for Jews only. They have already been detained for an hour and a half. In their car is food for the festive meal breaking the Ramadan fast. They are from Ramallah, did not know that this road is forbidden to them. They are familiar with the apartheid roads in their own area. But there is no sign here, so how could they tell? I call the army hotline. 40 minutes of calling again and again. Among other things, I was told that there I no such vehicle at the checkpoint. I give them the exact license plate number of the car and describe its exact location: on the lane of vehicles exiting Nablus, below the quarry. After a lengthy discussion and five phone calls I am told that in Ramadan, punitive detention has been shortened to one hour rather than three, and that they will be released soon. All this after a detention of over two hours! (Huwwara, 15.9)

At the taxi park we are approached by Suleiman from Jama'in who needs our help to locate a relative of his. The man had worked (without a permit) in Ganei Tiqva settlement, and was arrested by the police probably on Sunday. They do not know where he is held or what his fate is to be. Attempting to help him, we called the police. The officer said they provide such information only to family, at the Mesubim station (they are to get there from Jama'in! with no entry permits to Israel!)

Our attempt to contact the Nablus area DCO was fruitless as well. We were told that "this is not in our jurisdiction" and to try the army humanitarian hotline. The hotline person told us she has no way to help here: "We do not work with the Israeli civilian police, it's a case of illegal alien". We got back to Suleiman who said; 'Instead of giving us potatoes, they put mountains over our heads!" (Huwwara, 17.9)

An old blind man escorted by two six-year olds tries to get through the checkpoint on the paved vehicle lane. The soldier sends him back to stand at the end of the special side line. He begs, to no avail. ("Ordnung muss sein!") (Huwwara, 14.9)

The father of a detainee arrives, holding some dates in one hand, a water bottle in the other. He asks permission to give them to his son who has not yet broken his fast. The checkpoint commander refuses, and yells at the father to clear the checkpoint. He turns his back on the elderly man and struts off, showing who's boss. The father stands chided, waiting, holding the dates and water. He waits another 15 minutes, until the commander comes back, flashing a victory smile and announcing: "can't help you." An hour and a half, the young man will be released. (Huwwara, 18.9)

The checkpoint commander - for some reason - did not allow an elderly blind man to use the special side line. A young Palestinian trying to intervene on his behalf get pushed and hit by the commander. He is thrown, handcuffed, into the cubicle hold, with signs of beating on his face and above his hip. He says his bag has disappeared in the mayhem, a bag that contained a dowry, 11,000 NIS. To our request, the MPman inquired and announced that the bag is held by family members. But the young man came to the checkpoint alone! Actually, no one knows the bag's whereabouts.

The commander goes to speak to the detainee. He commands him to sit in the corner. The detainee tries to explain something to him - we couldn't hear clearly - and then the officer yelled at him: "Sit down. You're not listening to me! I'll fuck your mother if you don't listen!" Some minutes later the boy's wrists were released and he was led to the other side of the checkpoint, apparently to continue looking for the disappeared bag. Then he was returned to the hold and cuffed again. He was released three hours later, without the bag. (Huwwara, 22.9)

First day of the 3-day Eid al Fitr (grand holiday). It is a day traditionally devoted to visiting family. But the Nablus checkpoints are empty. Last year we saw families in their holiday best, children holding presents, on their way to visit. Checkpoints were crowded, women and children passing in the fast lanes and waiting for the men. But today they were empty. We asked a young man about this, who passed the checkpoint by himself, unaccompanied by his family. "It's because of the situation", he answered.

Just as we arrived, a young man was required to lean against the central checking post, facing the concrete ledge. A soldier kicks his legs apart. He paws his body 0- legs, crotch, belly. The soldiers laugh: "Look at him tremble..." The whole affair lasted a half a minute. The youngster's ID is returned to him and he gets on his way. (Huwwara, 30.9)