DCO (District Coordination Offices)

Translating: Ruth Fleishman

A cab driver told us that the regulations on the passage of children had become stricter, that often the soldiers at the inspection post demand that when a child is escorted by his parents, in addition to the presentation of a Kushan (=birth certificate) and the inscription of his name in the parents' ID, the child must also be carrying his own Tasrih.
The parents make their way to the Palestinian DCO or Israeli DCL, wait in line for hours and then are told that children aren't granted a Tasrih because it is enough that their name be listed in their parent's ID. On returning to the checkpoint they find the soldiers unwilling to budge. They refuse to accept the parents' testimony or make inquiries with the DCL. The parents have no choice but to try their luck in other checkpoints, where such regulations aren't implemented, or at least not for the time being. The narrator witnessed an incident in which after having a confrontation with the soldiers, a man who was escorted by his son had a tantrum, he ripped his permit to shreds and threw them on them grown, he took his son's hand and left the site in rage.

"Tell them, tell them about me…", a person who had approached us said to the man we were talking to. He told us that a few days earlier he was taken from his house to the Moskobia, (=the Russian Compound) they accused him of being an illegal alien in his own home. The 45 year old man, who is a resident of the occupied territories and is married to a woman from Jerusalem, was held in custody for three days.
"Did they beat you?"—"Well, obviously…" he replied. After three days in custody he was brought before a judge that rebuked the Israeli Prison Service: "What are you doing, bringing me such an old man?"
The man was released and transferred to the territories of the Palestinian authority through Beit-Sira checkpoint (near Modi'in), but he has a rented room in Ar-Ram.
 
A-S also told us his story, which resembles that of many others from his nation:
That most of the Palestinians find themselves trapped between the restrictions that narrow down their freedom and rights, imposed on them by the Israeli system, and the corruption of the Palestinian authorities. He said that they, the big boys in the Muqata, take everything for themselves and don't leave means for providing for the majority of their people.
A-S, who up until the beginning of the Intifada made a good living for his family of ten members, who had worked for ten years as a crane operator at Givat Olga and as a truck driver, who had transported merchandise throughout the Israeli state, and who at times, when transporting merchandise to Ramat Hagolan would earn over a thousand shekels a day, is today, like the rest of his family, on the verge of starvation. That he is entrapped inside Palestine, that politics had turned him from a productive man to an endlessly wondering pauper, living from hand to mouth off occasional peddling.
"And how is it today?" he summed up, "every year it gets worse. I've got eight kids who want to eat. What can I do? Should I steal?- they buried us but we are alive".  

At the inspection post inside, the female soldier standing beside the soldier checking the IDs, was the one in charge of pressing the button that turns on the conveyer belt of the scanner, but for several minutes she was busy combing her hear with her fingers.
The people standing in front of those two were entrapped inside the inspection area, they waited, and waited and continued to wait. "One second"- yelled/ordered the soldier examining his college's activity with excitement. The people waiting outside, where the line was growing longer, also waited patiently for the hands of the soldier to be free and her finger proceed to press the button operating the mechanism.  

Translator:  Charles K.

About two weeks ago a deep ditch was dug from the Hamra checkpoint to the Gochia checkpoint, a distance of a few dozen meters, west of the Alon Road, along the route that was flatter before the ditch was dug.  The ditch is more than 4 meters deep, too narrow for a vehicle to pass.  They placed boulders where they were unable to dig.  It’s impossible to cross north of the checkpoint because of the topography (cf. photo in the report).  The result of these obstacles is that the Gochia checkpoint, which is open only three times a week for half an hour in the morning and in the afternoon is the only way for anyone living east of the road to access the area to its west.  In recent months, the Gochia checkpoint has almost never been open.  Up to now it has been barely possible to get around the ditch, and you risked punishment.  Now that’s no longer possible at all.

Despite the new, deep ditch, the Gochia checkpoint remains closed all the time.  At the hour it was scheduled to open a tractor pulling a wagon full of hay was waiting, and only after an hour and a half, during which we telephoned the DCO every ten minutes, did it open.  The driver and five small children waited two hours waited for the checkpoint to open, until 5 PM, and the checkpoint remained closed.  It’s unclear why the army invested so much effort and money to dig the ditch just to prevent a handful of Bedouin from reaching their encampments in the area or the town of Tamun west of the road, and doesn’t even bother to open the checkpoint even for the limited amount of time that was promised.  Malice?  Or obtuseness?  Aren’t people involved here?

Za’tara checkpoint (Tapuach junction) – 11:40
Vehicles coming from the direction of Huwwara are being inspected.  Five cars on line.  Two military jeeps at the checkpoint, but no Palestinian cars have been detained.  There’s a soldier in the observation tower at the junction.

Ma’aleh Efrayim checkpoint – 11:55 – Soldiers are present.  No cars.  As usual, young settlers wait for rides in the soldiers’ booth.

Gitit settlement – We can see that the agricultural area has been expanded.  New sown fields south of the built-up area.  New poultry houses have been built recently.

Hamra checkpoint – 12:15
Three cars wait for people coming through the checkpoint on foot.  They arrive pretty quickly, holding their belts in their hands.  A contractor who goes through every day says that it hasn’t been bad recently.

Vehicles travelling west, to Area A, aren’t inspected, but stop and wait to be waved through.  A new yellow sign was recently erected in front of the checkpoint, announcing that ambulances don’t have to wait on line.

Maskiyot settlement – A new fence has been erected around the settlement, and they took advantage of the opportunity to double its area northward.  Until a year or two ago, there was a pre-military program for religious youth here, with a few buildings to house students, staff and their families.  After the withdrawal from Gush Katif, a number of families arrived who’d been evacuated from one of the localities there.  They built them the villas on the ridge.  The new fence may signify an intention to expand the settlement.

When we visited the Bedouin tents on the other side of the road (where the blue tent belonging to young people from Maskiyot once stood), we were told that three days ago settlers from Maskiyot, along with the head of the settlement’s security who is notorious among the Bedouin, fell upon the women.  They chased away their flock, searched the tents (looking for what?) and then left.  The residents of Maskiyot frequently abuse the neighboring Bedouin, and no one stops them.

We met a mobile clinic on the road to the Tayasir checkpoint – an ambulance with a physician and nurses.  They come from Tubas, where there’s a medical center, and visit the Bedouin encampments twice a week.  Later we saw them at one of the encampments, the ambulance parked on the road, a number of woman and children waiting to be treated.

The ambulance driver complained that they’re delayed an hour or more at the Tayasir checkpoint while the medical staff and ambulance undergo a lengthy inspection.  When we were at the checkpoint we saw them going through quickly toward Tubas.  Was it because we were there?  Or because they were headed to Area A?  Inspections of people going in that direction are faster anyway.

Tayasir checkpoint – 13:20 – 14:30
The checkpoint was empty during most of the first half hour.
We remained in the car to eat lunch.  The commander and another soldier approached us (curiosity), asking whether we need help.  Then the shift changed and when we later went over to the pedestrian checkpoint the new commander (who seemed also to be new to the area) approached, announcing that it’s a closed military area, etc., etc.  Finally we compromised, and remained halfway up the hill. 

As usual at the checkpoint, vehicles are inspected only from one direction at a time, so lines form from the other direction.

14:15 – Fifteen minutes passed before any vehicle on line from the east was called up, and then they started going through quickly.  The taxi drivers collect the ID cards ahead of time, which makes the inspection go faster.  The line of five cars was gone in five minutes.

A closed truck, also on its way to Area A (under Palestinian control), is carefully inspected.  They remove the canvas cover, a soldier climbs up to inspect.  It was carrying empty plastic containers for agricultural produce.

14:25 – A car coming from the west is detained.  The driver argues.  It turns out that he moved forward for inspection without having been signaled to do so.  Then his vehicle is carefully inspected.  He didn’t receive any additional punishment, perhaps because we were watching?

15:05  Gochia checkpoint
Cf. the main points, above.  We telephoned Zaharan, the DCO crossings officer, every ten minutes.  He contacted his representative at brigade headquarters; they tried to find out what was happening, made repeated requests, and each time were promised that someone was on the way to open the gate, but no one came.  We kept nagging.  We had to leave at 16:15 because of commitments.  We gave the tractor driver Zaharan’s phone numbers, and ours, and took his.  That’s how we found out that the gate finally opened at 16:30. 

Ma’aleh Efrayim checkpoint – 16:35
Soldiers are present.  The checkpoint is empty.

Translation: Dvora K.

06:05 A'anin CP

The gates of the CP are open and the first people to arrive there are now leaving. Among them are many young people and families with little children all dressed up. Ultimately, after the yelling and the mix-ups of two weeks ago, all the olive-picking permits have been respected and people can go out to the groves until the permits become invalid at the end of the month. The olive-picking season has not ended of course but againthe CP opens only twice a week for half an hour – on Mondays and Thursdays, at six a.m. and at 3 p.m.

Those who own large olive groves, who could not finish the work in the time allotted, submitted requests for daily passage through the Shaked CP in September. According to them, they did this on the advice of representatives of the Palestinian and the Israeli DCOs, who visited the place. They still haven't received responses. One of them told us that he owns 120 dunams, some over the fence, and to which he has no access. All of his land is in the seamline zone.

We drove the veterinary from A'anin to his clinic in Umm Reihan. We helped him improve the Hebrew in his clinic's sign. To our surprise, we found that a half of the clinic is a shop for household utensils, as an additional source of livelihood.

07:25 Shaked-Tura CP

We arrived together with the ride of the young children. The children run to the military police and open their bags even if they are not asked to do so. For tem this is the routine of going to school. A few people are waiting in front of the door to the inspection pavilion, in the direction of the West Bank. What, after all, is there to inspect in that direction?

08:00 Taibeh-Rumne CP

The CP has opened on time and the first person is going through. Somebody tells us that they opened on time thanks to us, but the truth is that they opened it before we'd arrived. Here, too, as in A'anin, people are still going through using permits valid for olive-picking, even though, according to the army, the season has ended. One of those going through tells us that he has a permit to go to his fields on the other side of the fence, for three months. His father, an 88-year-old tractor driver, has a permit for the whole year, because he is officially recorded as the owner.

The soldiers have to leave the CP by 08:30, the CP's closing time. We leave a bit before that and have an excellent breakfast in nearby Umm el Fahem. Here too we hear about the CPs: The wife of the restaurant owner – his cook – is a Palestinian, and she has a permit to stay in Israel, but she does not have a blue (Israeli) ID card. They have to coordinate their trips to the West Bank so that they go through during the time set aside for Israelis and for Palestinians.

We went to visit our young friend, W. On the way a tractor driver from A'anin, whom we know from the CP, stopped us. The gear of his tractor has to be repaired; he cannot go in reverse. He wants to take the tractor in for repairs and go home from there, but the A'anin CP is already closed and will reopen only at 3 p.m. We talked to Mahdi from the Salem DCO and the man was allowed to come back through the Shaked-Tura CP.

Translator:  Charles K.

Summary

Violence, as well as sexual harassment, at the Hamra checkpoint, long lines at the Tapuach checkpoint, the Gochia checkpoint isn’t open.

11:50 – Za’tara checkpoint (Tapuach junction) – Border Police soldiers stop cars in both directions, don’t request documents, don’t inspect anything, only ask, “Everything OK?”, as if to check people’s accents.  But at this hour, when there’s a great deal of traffic, that’s sufficient to create traffic jams everywhere, particularly in the direction of Ramallah.  Dozens of cars crowd into the plaza and far beyond, the traffic jam stretching farther than we can see.  The soldiers try to get rid of us; we stand quietly on the sidewalk but refuse to leave.  When we finally want to go, two military jeeps block our car from behind.  I maneuver around them.  One soldier stands in front of the car, blocking our way.  I ask the commander whether we’re being detained; he says no and tells the soldier to move aside.  We left.

Ma’aleh Efrayim checkpoint – 12:30

The checkpoint isn’t manned.

Hamra checkpoint – 12:45

Three soldiers swoop down on us as soon as we arrive, demanding we leave “their” checkpoint and stand at the junction, about 100 meters away.  Before we reach our usual observation point we stop by the water wagon, about 20 meters from the checkpoint.  The sergeant, very sure of himself and aggressive, yells to his soldiers to shut the checkpoint down.  When we tell him that’s illegal, he yells at us, “I’m the law!!  I do what the fuck I want,” and continues to repeat, “I’m the man – you better believe it!!”

All the checkpoint’s soldiers – about 10 – come over and surround us threateningly.  The sergeant grabs my notebook and refuses to return it.  He and his soldiers begin flipping through it and reading what’s written.  I was very worried, because it contains telephone numbers and ID numbers of Palestinians, but Yif’at went into the midst of the bunch of soldiers and grabbed the notebook back.  Both sides pulled until it was freed, but a Border Police soldier grabbed my camera and while holding it above his head pressed up against me.  I asked him not to touch me but he continued, chest to chest, stomach to stomach, very unpleasantly.  That allowed Yif’at to come up behind him and grab the camera from his hand.  The soldier laughed and kept pressing up against me until, finally, a few minutes later, he pushed me away.

The entire incident lasted not more than ten minutes.  I telephoned Zaharin, the DCO officer, while it was going on, and asked him to call the police immediately.  The checkpoint was closed during the incident; because it was rush hour the lines lengthened in all directions – to the east, toward the Jiflik, to the northeast, toward the settlements of Beqa’ot and Ro’i, and west toward Nablus.  Many laborers stood waiting on line along the road to cross to the West Bank.

An army jeep arrived with a lieutenant; I later learned he was the company commander whom Zaharan had called.  The officer, as usual, immediately backed up his soldiers and ordered us to leave:  “I have orders to close the checkpoint if you stay here.”  We moved to the junction so that the checkpoint would open for people to go through.  Before the checkpoint opened, one of the soldiers went over and said (in Arabic) to the waiting Palestinian laborers to tell us to leave.  The Palestinians mumbled something (“You see?  Look, they also want you to get out of here”).  When the soldiers moved away one of the Palestinians approached and said they had no choice.  But they’re very glad we’re here; we should come early in the morning.

The Palestinians crossing from Nablus later said to us that the soldiers at the checkpoint said they should tell us to leave.  They asked who we were, and when we explained they said “Kul al ahtiram [Good for you],” and thanked us for coming. 

The soldiers opened the checkpoint and then the police arrived.

The company commander went over to the policeman and told him we went into the soldiers’ booth and took photos of weapons and ammunition (a blatant lie!!).  I asked the policeman (Shlomo Na’amani) to look at the photos on the camera, but he refused.  I asked to file a complaint; at first the policeman, who was very hostile to me, told us to complain at the Ma’ale Efrayim police station.  We told him that we’d complained there in the past, but that we wanted to identify the attackers to him (he refused to get their names).  He sent me over to the patrol car where I submitted a complaint to another policeman, Nabil Tuba, who was businesslike and not hostile, although he too refused at first to write that the soldiers were violent or harassed me sexually, and said, “What’s the big deal – what did he do?  That’s not violence…”  Only after I insisted did he write what I told him.  He also agreed to look at all the photos on my camera and saw for himself there were none of weapons and ammunition, nor of the booth, and not even of the soldiers I tried to photograph (because they were standing too close, pushed me and nothing was in focus).

By the way, from what we could see before they closed the checkpoint, the crossing went quickly and we didn’t see any other delays.

13:50 – Tayasir checkpoint

3-4 cars from each direction which were let through as soon as we arrived.  We stood at a distance, but from talking to people waiting learned that recently there have been delays here of an hour and a half.  Today also – crossing proceeds slowly, and documents of those coming west from the Jordan Valley to Area A are also inspected.

15:00 – Gochia checkpoint

It hadn’t opened as of 15:15, nor had any Palestinians arrived.

17:30 – Ma’aleh Efrayim

Unmanned.