Weekly Digest 3.6-9.6.07

Bethlehem area

Sunday AM, 3.6.07
07:00 Bethlehem CP: The crowding has eased and the crossing has been reasonable.
Two recurring problems: 1. Many people are rejected by the machine although they have perfectly valid
magnetic cards. 2. Passing women have an
awful time due to the crowding and the inevitable body contact in its wake.
08:00 Ezyon DCL: Many people waiting. But: NO MAGNETIC CARDS! After the DCL
was closed for 3 months, now there are
no cards! Today the excuse was that the computer
was down, but last week there were hardly any cards either.

Wednesday AM, 6.6.07
06:45 Bethlehem CP. Crowds
of people outside. The street is full of vehicles waiting for their
workers. Inside the CP four stations are checking orderly lines of
people. A female soldier screams at the people to line up single
file.
08:45 Ezyon DCL. About 50 people waiting, some inside the
building, others outside. People complain that too few numbers were given out. Men
under 28 years of age complain that they cannot receive a magnetic card.

Wednesday PM, 6.6.07
Ezyon DCL: 15 people waiting. Men in their 20s were not even allowed to
hand in their requests for a magnetic card, though all had stories about 19-20
year olds who had even been issued the hoped for cards. 3 people over 40 were also waiting to go in for
magnetic cards, but didn't have numbers. We negotiated on their behalf with the
soldiers on the other side of the turnstiles. They soldiers were polite, but
said they had already issued their quota for the day (40 cards) and the 3 should come tomorrow morning. One of the men said he had been
doing so for quite some time, and reluctantly left. A young man, holding a
letter from the legal advisor of the civil administration stating he was no
security risk, was still turned away and told not to come back for two years. Perhaps
the letter was not authentic, because he didn't seem too upset, but these are
the measures they have to stoop to so as to be able to work.

Thursday, 7.6.07, AM
06:45, Bethlehem CP. No
lines on either side. It's been like this all week, we're told.
07:40, Ezyon DCL. The door to the waiting hall opens at 07:00. About 70
people waiting. Apparently, the day before 30 magnetic cards were issued, so
people came as early as 22:00 the previous night in order to be at the head of
the line. At 08:00 numbers were handed out. About 10 persons were waiting for permits. Many who are denied work permits
because they are on the GSS lists solicited our help.

Friday AM, 8.6.07
Bethlehem,
09:00. Only one window operating, serving people in both directions,
in spite of the unusually large number of people trying to enter from Bethlehem. Our
intervention lead to 2 more windows are opened, considerably reducing the
pressure.
DCL Ezyon, 10:30. Empty.

Abu
Dis Area
Monday PM, 4.6.07, 14:15-18:15 PM
Sheikh Saed. Empty, except for many police barriers. It looks
more forbidding than before. Slowly some people started to exit. They had to wait
at a distance, first hand out their papers and wait for their ID number to be
recorded before proceeding.
Bir Nabala. The CP has been moved away from the roundabout
and the underpass of road 443. The roadblock was not manned. On the way to the Ramot
Road all traffic was halted
in the middle of the ascent on the potholed path towards the end. A soldier
guarded by a civilian security guard was checking all documents, entering into
vans and checking the trunks of vehicles. The queue was very long, apparently due to security warnings. Next to
the CP on the main road a blue police van was guarding an official of the
Internal Revenue, who was out mainly to catch taxi drivers. It took us over an
hour to get to the CP, and meanwhile the line had lengthened to over 60
vehicles. The drivers, extremely angry, only wanted to get home after a day's work. They
said were traveling within the territories with no intention of reaching either Jerusalem or
Tel Aviv. Some said that the soldier only intensified the check because we were
watching. In more than two hours we saw no improvement in the situation other
than a decrease in the number of waiting cars, because it was getting so much
later.

Wednesday PM, 6.6.07
Olives terminal, 3:15. Empty.
Container CP: A long queue incoming. Then we hear
on the loudspeaker the CO instructing the soldiers to move the line faster, and
soon the queue is shorter. A new procedure for outgoing
taxis: Those sampled for ID checks are sent down from the CP area to
wait there while the IDs are checked. We timed one taxi for a 20 minute
wait. Otherwise, all traffic moved smoothly.
Sheikh Saed: The CP looks pretty awful, with all the
barriers, but nothing was happening while we were there.

Qalandiya
Area
Thursday
AM, 31.5.07
06.45 Anata. Many children on their way to school and apparently to a trip.
Much traffic of pedestrians and cars.
Everything runs quickly.
07.15 Ar-Ram. Very little traffic. An old woman and a man are
sent back. Otherwise no detainees - people learned the rules and
submit to them.
07.50 Qalandiya. Fewer prisoners' families are
waiting to pass. At 08.00 sharp they are summoned to the check-up. The woman
soldier barks at them, but otherwise the atmosphere is one of courtesy and efficiency,
as if it were a "normal" border. Can we make a wish?

Nablus
Area

Sunday, 3.6.07, PM
13:35, on the way from Qalqilya. A military jeep sits parked across the
roadway west of the checkpoint; no other checkpoint, but a long line of vehicles
lined up to leave the OPT.
14:10, Jit Junction. Three vehicles waiting to be checked, coming from
the East. Near the turn off to Sarra, we note that there's a large, red and
white "no entry" road sign in Arabic, English and Hebrew.
15:00, Beit Iba. Palestinians and two ecumenical workers, leaving Nablus, tell us of
the IDF's latest deadly forays into the city. The ecumenical workers report
that no soldiers were visible earlier today, but that repairs were being
carried out to sewage, phone and electricity lines damaged last night.
The line of vehicles is endless, but the checking is neither that slow or that
thorough. From Deir Sharaf, never more than three our four vehicles. Very few
pedestrians today. On the other hand, under the low key leadership of Second
Lieutenant A., things run smoothly. Even A. is baffled by the detainee, a young
man, an engineering student, who's already been detained for a couple of hours.
His sister and two male family members are "visiting" him. We see the
helplessness of the army in the face of the GSS (General Security Service).
It's they who call for Mohammed's detention, and neither A., nor the lieutenant
from the DCL (District Coordination Office), who arrives twenty minutes after
us, are able to achieve much.
16:00. There the matter rests, and there things remain, in spite of numerous
attempted phone calls by A., and discussions also with the DCL representative.

Monday, 4.6.07, AM
08.15, Jit. No check post.
08.25, Beit Iba. Workers
complain of check posts near Shavei Shomron. A taxi coming from Nablus is checked
extremely thoroughly. Another van taking clothes is also stopped despite the
fact he passes this way daily. The soldiers make the driver take out all his
bags for inspection. Even the spare tyre is checked. A dog handler is called
in.
We get to the actual check post.
There is an Arab woman with an Israeli ID who is trying visit her sick 90 year
old mother in Nablus. The
soldiers will not let her pass. When we try to plead with them, we get the
answer: "We are just following orders". We call the officer in charge
of public complaints who advises to fax documents to the office in Jerusalem to request
permission for entry. We pass on the information to the woman.

Tuesday, 5.6.07, AM

07:00--08:20, Beit Iba. The
pedestrian checkpoint is empty; people pass into Nablus without
checking. At the vehicle checkpoint the entrance to Nablus is quick;
on the exit side we can't see the end. A driver tells us he's been waiting
about half an hour. A dog-trainer is waiting aside. The dog-assisted check is
random, about one out of ten vehicles. On second thought, it may be not so
random after all: vehicles are chosen whose drivers are young men adorned with
beards and/or an Arafat-like keffiyeh, for example.

Thursday, 7.6.07, PM

14:33, Jit Junction. 53
vehicles on line from the east. Vehicle number 15 on line has already waited a
half hour. We call the Army Hotline and are told that they will check it out.
However, it is only at 16:14 that they say that the DCL (District Coordination
Office) is about to send extra people to help Jit.
14:45, Beit Iba. Very little
traffic coming into Nablus. Over 20
vehicles leaving Nablus . Waiting
time: about an hour. Very few pedestrians. By 15:10 things go a bit faster. D.,
the commander, tells us that there is a hot alert today and that is the reason
that there is more thorough checking of vehicles.
15:05. A taxi arrives at the
checkpoint after waiting on line for an hour. The taxi is taken to the side to
have the vehicle checked by the dog. The driver is told to stand far away. The
dog jumps into the trunk and things are pulled apart in the trunk so that he
can get his nose in each crevice. The dog is sent to sniff in the motor and in
the wheels. He climbs all over the seats of the taxi leaving his dusty paw
prints. His trainer tries vainly to remove some of the dog's dirt.
15:56. A truck I spotted near
the end of the traffic line from Nablus at 15:12
has arrived to the checking booth and it has been chosen to be examined by the
dog. Since the truck is too big to be moved to the side and checked by the dog,
it remains in place and prevents another vehicle from passing through. A
Palestinian is washing down the surface of the road and the barriers of the
checkpoint. It seems this is a lame attempt at trying to keep the dangerous
dust of the quarry at bay. We have often been told by the soldiers that they
can only be kept on duty at Beit Iba for 3 week shifts because of the dangerous
effect this quarry dust has on the lungs.
16:07. The truck moves on. The
line of traffic from Nablus is even
longer. Two vehicles on line to Nablus.
16:14. We call the Army Hotline about
long line of traffic.
16:47. Still very little pedestrian
traffic. There are now about 15 vehicles from Nablus and 2 to Nablus.

Tulkarm Area

Sunday, 3.6.07, PM

17:05, Anabta. We're shocked to see not one soldier at either of the two
checking booths in the center of the roadway, but the line of vehicles from Tulkarm
stretches into the far off distance, and into Tulkarm there is also a line, at
least 19 vehicles. Quickly, as the five of us arrive, four soldiers appear from
under the camouflage netting by the military look out tower where there's now a
picnic table. One of them has a stack of IDs in his hand, and rather than deal
with the endlessly patient Palestinians, one of them, in particular takes time
out to tell us that taking photos is forbidden. He continues to waste time
during the course of the shift, telling us off. The commander says not a word.
17:20. We've already noted that three cars with Israeli license plates have
been stopped, coming from Tulkarm, their drivers -- Israeli citizens – are less
patient than the Palestinians, argue, particularly with one soldier who is
adamant (no, obnoxious) about everything. They get nowhere. We ask why their
blue IDs (Israeli IDs) are being held. "They cut in front of other
cars," we're told. So, the Israeli army is now into punishment of Israeli
citizens? Further, when we ask when the IDs will be returned, we're told:
"When there's no line from Tulkarm."
17:25. The line into Tulkarm has indeed now dissipated (the soldiers are back
at work).
17:35. Three of the four soldiers now do no work, i.e., stop checking vehicles,
and the line from Tulkarm grows again.
The Palestinian Israelis remain at the checkpoint, and their blue IDs at the
checking booth.
17:55, Ar-Ras. There are very few passing vehicles.

Monday, 4.6.07, AM

9.40, Anabta. 5
cars are waiting in line to Tulkarm; 14 waiting from Tulkarm. There are only 2
soldiers checking for both directions, and the line gets longer. Waiting tine:
about 10 minutes.
10.00. About 20 cars in
line.
10:40, Ar-Ras. 2 cars
coming from Tulkarm.

Monday, 4.6.07, AM

07.00, eastern exit from Qalqilya.
There is a very long line of cars
exiting the town. Each car is being stopped as well as all pedestrians. Waiting
time: about 45 minutes. There are 30 cars in line.
07.55, Azun. There are about
5 cars in each direction. At 8.00 the soldiers take apart the spikes on the
road and allow cars to enter and exit though still checking some cars.

Tuesday, 5.6.07, AM

06:15--06:35, Irtah. Many workers report that the
facility opens on time and things run smoothly. This is especially notable in
relation to the hair-raising reports from the facility in Barta'a (Reihan),
recently privatized and run by the same security company. A man tells us that
he, as well as his employer, travel all the way here because of this.
08:30--08:50, Anabta. Traffic
passes quickly, usually without checks.
Ar-Ras. Hardly any
traffic.

Thursday 7.6.07, PM

14:00–14:15, Qalqilya. Two
soldiers checking outgoing vehicles; incoming vehicles not checked. A few
vehicles on line.
17:02, flying checkpoint east of
the Beit Lid intersection on route 557. Vehicles coming from the west are
chcked. No line forming.
17:06, Anabta. No checking of
vehicles going to Tulkarm; random checking of vehicles leaving Tulkarm.