Family Connections

9:30-10:45

Bethlehem– Checkpoint 300: one lane is open, and a female soldier is sitting there in absolute silence – I didn’t hear her voice at all. The closure of the checkpoint is fully observed. A number of Palestinians go through, equipped with appropriate documentation. People are mostly going to Bethlehem.

A Palestinian arrives and explains he wants to visit his hospitalized son – but nothing helps and he’s sent back.

Upon leaving, I notice an announcement about an upcoming state appropriation of land near “Rachel’s Pass” in order to “improve the facility.” I hadn’t noticed it last time. Maybe it was already here, maybe not. The Hebrew version says 22.8.11, but the Arabic version has no date. The announcement consists of two letter-sized sheets glued on a yellow signpost, itself mounted on a fence near the parking lot.

   9:10-11:20

Summary: Humaneness is victorious after all

Bethlehem - Checkpoint 300: 

Five positions open. Everything is very quiet, people cross without delays except for station no. 2 in the first booth, where the female soldier yells, is rude, supercilious. Chana called just as I was about to contact the humanitarian office. I told her, she complained and within fifteen minutes the shift changed (it's unclear whether that was connected to the complaint, but the situation improved, although an hour later the soldier who'd replaced the obnoxious one began behaving the same way…)

Very many people crossing, as has been true the entire month. Most have permits to cross. From time to time someone shows up with a child older than 12 who isn't theirs, and without a permit, and the child is sent back.

Suddenly we hear shouts from the first booth. The soldier sees that a child she'd sent back has gone through a different lane, and exited. She calls him, he hesitates momentarily and then exits. A man intervenes, explaining that his grandfather is waiting for him outside and the soldier falls upon him, demands his ID card because he dared intervene. Meanwhile the child is already far away and the Palestinian man has also been freed from the soldier's clutches.

Another boy arrives, alone, saying that all his family crossed and he's here by himself. The soldier tells him he can't cross like that. He needs some kind of document. The boy goes back and returns a few minutes later with a photocopy. It says he's 13. They don't want to let him through, and he begins crying: he's all alone, has no money, his family has already crossed…The soldier and her partner in the booth start stammering. Her partner is more resolute, tries to convince the first that they can't let the boy through. People standing nearby intervene, as do I, the boy keeps crying. I suggest that the checkpoint commander look into it, judge for himself. The commander comes over with two soldiers, interrogates the boy briefly, and tells the female soldier: “You decide - if he looks ok to you, let him cross” (!!!)

The female soldier is still uncertain, the boy is crying, everyone standing around says that he can't be turned away. Finally the soldier asks him questions about his identity (names, parents' names, address) and lets him through.

Based on what I saw at the Bethlehem checkpoint during this month of Ramadan, it seems that the process is relatively better than in previous years, and much better than it was ten years ago and earlier.

And regarding the march toward Jerusalem from four directions - I heard and saw nothing. Apparently they were stopped long before getting close to the checkpoint.

Translation: Ruth Fleishman

Third Friday of the Ramadan

"Not yet fifty" was the key phrase.

On the morning of the third Friday of the Ramadan all the rule regulating the passage had changed: the criterions were more severe and all praying permits were cancelled. Fifty was the minimum age. Those younger by only a couple of days, men as well as women, with or without permits, were declined passage. Several hours later (at eight o'clock according to the officers), after the thousands that had wished to cross the checkpoint during the morning hours left in desperation, this "equality" between the genders was lifted and only the usual rules regarding women were implemented.

Two different groups were there, the group inside and the one outside.
Various military unites were inside, in the sterile zone, protected from grenades and rifles in the fortified site that was barricaded by metal fences, cement blockings and barbed wire.
While outside, surrounding the site, were thousands of men, women and children that had gathered from all around the West Bank, asking to realize the promise made by the sovereign who is obligated to protect the right for freedom of religion.
Order, discipline and hierarchy controlled the inside group, while the outside group was controlled by surprise, rage and chaos.    

People who had just a couple of days earlier received signed permits from the authorities that were to be used on that day, witnessed how the same hands that gave them their permits, denied both it and them with a simple hand gesture and a rude voice.  
Many men who up until the previous night were old enough to cross, had that morning become a threat, they ran helplessly between the gates, holding their documents out as evidence of their right, trying their luck for the second, the third and the fourth time.
But the gates and cracks were tighter than ever. The sterility was backed up with fishers' nets (in the military lingo) and almost no loopholes were to be found. The few, mostly teenage girls, that managed to slip passed the first row of soldiers, were caught soon enough and sent back through the "gate of the denied" which was a kind of "revolving door".
People from east Jerusalem found it hard to get back home: "not yet fifty" was the key phrase…

Among the people who were trying their luck was a person who two weeks earlier was framed by the soldiers, an event which we witnessed. The person told us that at the beginning he was taken to the police station at the checkpoint, from there he was transferred to Atarot and at the end of the day he found himself incarcerated in Ofer. In the mean time, while making their way from one place to the other, the people transferring him beat him. It was only on Sunday, two day after his arrest, that he was released on a 5,000 Shekel bail.
The link to the video documenting the event:
http://www.mahsanmilim.com/ramadan2011.htm
Two of the senior officers that commanded and supervised the event had a conversation: "Lots persons who are illegally staying in Israel cross here!..." said one to the other and they both nodded. Worried in face of the many people cramped up and the few that managed to pass, when the only criterion was the age specified on the person's ID, they didn't seem uncomfortable nor did they seem to dwell on the absurdity of the sight before them.

As the hours passed and the hour of the prayer in Jerusalem approached, the checkpoint was closed to elder men as well. It was the hour in which even the person's age didn't matter anymore. At the eastern side of the site, those who stood at the men's gate keeled on the ground and prayed in front of cement bricks, barricades, barbed wire and heavy machinery, before the eyes of the soldiers who saw and ignored this.  

Usually, at that point the laws regulating the passage are once again as before. However, this wasn't the case on that Friday. Closure was the regulation that faced those who waited for it to be noon, so that they could cross with use of their permits to Jerusalem. They were denied and sent home in shame, with a sound of the fortified soldier behind the front window, screaming at them.

0610 A'anin Agricultural CP

People tell us that the CP has opened as usual at six; so far about 30 people have gone through and about the same number are waiting. Recently, permits have been distributed, but not generously. Every family received one permit, if at all. According to the people we spoke to, there many farmers with land on the other side of the Fence who did not get any permit to go across. We remind whoever needs a reminder, that distributing permits is not a 'right' but a duty by the occupier's definition of agricultural gates in the Fence: 'that the occupier will not prevent farmers from cultivating their lands.' Then they made a commitment …

The passage is conducted through the middle gate; they are making lists on paper because there is no computer. This always causes mistakes, which cause arguments when people return, as we have seen more than once. Young fellows aged 12-16 are not allowed to go out even if they are accompanied by a parent. This is the same problem that has never been solved in relation to this age group. They are not given identity cards, but they are still considered mature enough to need a permit. A woman accompanied by her young son has to go through by herself because he is not allowed to go with her. Yet, according to tradition, a woman is not allowed to go out alone in public …

0620. About 20 people are still waiting. A group of people denied passage is standing at the side. There is no representative of the DCO.

0630. We hear shouting and arguments. Somebody is yelling provocatively: 'Call the police!". Most of the young boys return to the village; while one refuses to move. He insists on going through. There is no way to find out who the person is even though we know what the argument is about. At one stage, two soldiers grab the fellow, one on his right and one on his left, and drag and push him to the passage of the CP yelling "Be careful!" and so on.

The end of the story: We have bought one more fan for the national team. Now we can close the CP and go out to carry out some tasks of defense, protecting the nation of Israel from those who wish to do it evil.

0650 Tura-Shaked CP

Soldiers are concentrating on the task of opening the CP.

0700The CP has been opened. About 20 people from the West Bank (from 'the Red side') are waiting near the turnstile at the entrance to the inspection pavilion. Then another 20 will arrive, and among them teachers going to East Barta'a, to proctor matriculation exams, and so on. Here, too, they are recording names on paper. The tempo of the passage is reasonable.

A young shepherd is waiting to go through; the young lambs do not know about order and discipline. They break through the CP and stop the passage. After a quarter of an hour he goes through with the herd and order is restored.

Our acquaintance, Y., arrives with a young woman relative and a young boy. She is on her way to the DCO to renew her permit. Y. is nervous because of the 'catch': Her permit is not valid, but in order to renew it she has to go through the CP. How will she go through without a permit? He calls the DCO, upset, talks to the soldiers, presents documents, goes ahead and comes back. The soldiers examine the papers, call whoever they have to call and in the end let her go through. Since all of this is happening in the middle of the CP [which we see only partly], when Y. comes out, we ask about what happened. At first he refuses to talk. We are surprised; usually we are on good terms. And then suddenly his tongue is freed, and this nice man who usually smiles and jokes with us, takes all his anger out on us. We are to blame! It's all because of us! Why do we come here at all if we do not help? He yells at us like a pressure cooker whose valve has blown out: "Go away from here! Don't come here ….. !" We think that if others feel this way, swallow their resentment and restrain themselves until the day when they explode - and that day will come, it must come because how much can people absorb – then neither we nor any fence nor any wall will be able to stand against the frustration and the hate and the pain that have accumulated for decades among these people, some of whom were born to the occupation.

0815 New Barta'a CP (Reihan in the name of the Settlement)

The head of the Barta'a council and his assistants are distributing flyers to people who are going through the CP. Today there are elections to the Palestinian Office of Commerce, and just as is done in our country, they are trying to influence the results until the very last minute.

A young man from East Barta'a and his wife, an Israeli from West Barta'a, live on both sides of the wadi that separates the Israeli Barta'a from the Palestinian Barta'a. She has not moved officially to East Barta'a so as not to lose her civil rights, and he is prevented from moving to live with her. Thus, they live at a walking distance of five minutes from one another. In order to see him, she and two toddlers and another one in her stomach must travel to Jenin via Jalameh, because Israeli Arabs are allowed to go through to the West Bank only there. He is not allowed to take three steps, to cross the border between the two villages and to see his family. The absurdity shouts to the heavens!

Now the woman was caught in her husband's house. Somebody apparently informed on her and somebody from Israel came to her house and found it empty. They inspected the refrigerator, the garbage pail; they took pictures and noted: there is no sign of everyday life in that house. They found her in her husband's house and cancelled her health insurance.

Afterwards they said, why are you shocked? That is the routine. Nothing out of the ordinary. They take pictures, record the facts and pass them on to wherever facts like these get passed on, and they do what they do.

0900 We left.

Our boys had a hard day.

from 1:30 till 5:00 PM

Nuaman Checkpoint:  we asked and received permission to enter Nuaman, the road entry had been blocked and a car that had waited could now also pass. We noticed a car dropping off people at the CP and returning to the village and stopped to talk to the driver, Jamil Darawi who didn’t know Hebrew, so he called his cousin the mukhtar who happened to be in Nablus. He then called his other cousin Ibrahim Darawi who speaks English and directed us to his house. Ibrahim told us that Lea Tsemel is now trying to get all the inhabitants blue ID cards, since moving the fence had proven impossible.  He said that the Red Cross does no longer assist and people have no work. He teaches a little in Bethlehem since he retired from his government job in Ramalla. His youngest daughter (aged 6) attends the school in El Khas. Two of his older daughters are married, one in Sur Bakher and one in El Khas, they cannot visit their parents, only the son-in-law from Sur Bakher is allowed into the village. His older sons cannot marry, since they are unable to provide prospective brides with housing. He said they feel like in prison, but was nevertheless smiling and enjoyed joking with his young daughter.

Etzion DCL:   on the way to the Eastern Etzion settlements we noted that at the entrance to the road towards Abadiya and the Dead Sea there is no red sign preventing entrance of Israelis. There was only one man at the DCL who showed us a fine of a 1,000 Shekels which (bringing cash) he had tried to pay unsuccessfully at the police counter. We found out that the Post Office in Alon Shvut was closed in the afternoons and suggested he contact Haya, but apparently he was in a hurry to pay and could not wait until next week, so he said he would ask the police in Kiryat Arba on Friday-morning to pay the fine for him.

Tunnel Checkpoint:   at the Tunnel Checkpoint was a long line of cars waiting to pass in order to go south, stretching all the way to the end of the long tunnel, in our direction traffic passed quickly and the one detained car was released immediately.

Bethlehem- Checkpoint 300:   at the Rachel Crossing all workers returned home without any investigation. 

16:45 -13:50

  Etzion DCL :

unbelievable!  Everyone who was waiting got in, and by closing time they’d all come out.  True, not many people were waiting today, perhaps because of the closure; and it’s true that things went very slowly today and people had to wait for hours, and it’s true that suddenly everything stopped and no one was allowed in or came out, and people were again let in only after we contacted the humanitarian office, but, despite it all, a success story – by the end of the day everyone had been taken care of.

13:50

when we arrived we saw two men who had come out holding magnetic cards.  They told us six people were waiting inside.  Seven waited at the revolving gate, and three more in the waiting room. 

13:55 

a man came out who said he’d been waiting since ten.  After a long break, and a call to the humanitarian office, a woman came out at 14:25.

At 14:40a young man came out, followed by a teacher we’d met two weeks ago who had to return today.  She looked tired but satisfied.

Not everyone came out satisfied.  A man with an appointment for an eye operation in a Jerusalem hospital who didn’t receive a permit to enter the city because the Shin Bet objects came out disappointed and worried.

A woman from Beit Jala who had been refused a magnetic card because “today they’re only handling residents of Bethlehem, not Beit Jala,” also came out disappointed.

A man approached us.  He said that his house, which is near the DCL, has no water or electricity.  Despite his requests, he’s not being allowed to connect to the electrical and water grids that serve the settlers whose groves surround his house.  He’s forced to buy water and have it delivered by tanker to his house, and it lasts only a few days.

A short while ago he began installing a bathroom in the courtyard of his house, but one of the settlers demand he stop and threatened to harm him if he continues.

 At 15:00   five people were let in. 

At 15:45  the rest were let in and the waiting room was empty. 

By 16:45 they’d all come out, one after another.

A young man approached us, complaining that the Shin Bet is pressuring him to collaborate.  They say, “Help us – and we’ll help you.”  We’ve already heard this identical complaint – in the same words – a number of times.  An older man told us he owns land and is being pressured to sell.  He refuses.  He’s being threatened.

Does this remind you of a story in the bible?  Maybe it reminds us about Nabot the Jezre’elite?

11.15 Hamrah CP

Empty. It is almost noon on a hot day – the people are apparently hidng in their houses or tents.

We met friends from 'Jordan Valley Solidarity,' with guests from France, who invited us to see a new kindergarten which they opened beneath the Peles Base (in the area of the Hemdat settlement). We decided to drive to this second kindergarten which they established – near Maskiyot. The children, who were waiting for the guests from abroad, received us with songs and dances and we found ourselves dancing with the Bedouin children until the real guests arrived. At the end of the presentation there was a problem. The kindergarten, which serves the children of the tent encampment on a volunteer basis, does not have the budget to pay for their trips home, and the children, including a handicapped child in a wheel chair, walk to their distant encampment, accompanied by one of the teachers. But a few days ago, some settlers (or guys from the preparatory military school) waited for them on the road and hit them (kindergarten children!!!).

It was really a very hot day, and the French visitors and I did several turns taking the little children home safely.

We went to visit Abu Saker in Hadidah. His son, Razi, was arrested a week ago (the fourth time this month), by soldiers who were accompanied by settlers from Roei. They claimed that he herded his sheep too close to the settlement. His mother says that the field where he has his herds is one that they have always rented from a resident of Tamoun. In the winter they cultivate it and raise rye. In the summer it is impossible - Israel does not allow it. Razi, usually a friendly fellow, walked among us like a ghost. I have never seen a person in a post-traumatic stress condition before and suddenly I understood what that means. The soldiers took him from his home at 14.30 and held him until midnight at the Peles Base, a distance of about five kilometers from there. He says that during all that time he was handcuffed (he showed us the red marks that still remain on his wrists) and was beaten nonstop. In the end they let him go at midnight and he walked all the way home by himself.

The family claims that the soldiers ' have their eyes on them'; at the CPs and at the Gochiya Gate they always ask the children, "Are you the son of Abu-Saker?' And if the answer is yes, they do not let them go through. Another means of breaking the family's spirit and forcing them to leave their land.

13.20 - Tyasir CP

There is not much traffic at this time and passage is quick. By contrast with other times when we were here, there is no inspection of those going through to area A apart from checking documents. 'If you are normal at this CP, then you are normal', announces one of the soldiers, and what will the Palestinians say?

14.45 - Hamrah CP

Here, too, the passage is quick and at the entrance to Nablus there is no inspection at all. The cars go through on the path at the side and go through the CP without stopping. Still, waiting in the sun until the soldier calls the passengers who were forced to get out of the cars, in the heavy heat, and, after the inspection, waiting for the taxi to arrive – it is hard. The people look agonized when they emerge from the CP with their belts in hand.

16.00 – Ma'aleh Ephraim– manned

We returned early because one of our members had sunstroke and had to get medical care.