Bethlehem Area

 

Monday PM, 11.2.08, 14:00-17:15

Tantur. 
2 male and 2 female BPs were completing forms for 10 detainees. One
soldier asked us to park elsewhere and observe from the other side of the
street. A female BP told us to observe from 50 yards away, but didn't
insist.  She was extremely nasty when we
tried to intervene on behalf of one woman who urgently needed to get home to
her children in Bethlehem
and had been held up almost an hour ago. 10 minutes later all were told to
proceed to Bethlehem CP for interrogation. 
The mother at this point was crying. We offered to take an elderly man
with bags or the mother in  our car and
were rudely refused.

Bethlehem CP, 17:00. 
3 windows manned. The civilian guard was efficient and even asked for an
additional window to be opened. People waited no longer that 10 minutes, women
and children allowed in first.  One man
with an elderly woman was told to return back home to Hebron
and report back  in the morning at 9:00
AM to see "Captain" S.

 

Tuesday AM, 12.2.08

06:30, Bethlehem CP.
5 active posts, lines long and tense. People report that it is very crowded on
the Palestinian side as well. The soldiers work quietly and efficiently, but there
is no way they can cope with the crowding. But by 07:15 the pressure is alleviated.

 07:55, Ezyon DCL.
3 men waiting for the DCL to open. They want magnetic cards. It is rainy, windy
and cold. They’ve been waiting about an hour, huddled against the wall for
protection against the weather. There is no shed in front of the DCL. At 08:00, the DCL opens.

 

Thursday AM, 7.2.08, 05:30
–-07:30

Bethlehem CP, 05:30. 
Opened at 05:15,
5 booths open.  Many people, but crossing
is quick. Some were heading towards Bethlehem
at this hour, against the traffic, abd have toi manage through the same
passage. One young civilian guard is very rough, shouting at people: "Get
lost!"

"You can't stand here" (to
people waiting or praying under the roof, since it is raining), "You can't
smoke here" (then lighting a cigarette himself!).

 

Abu Dis Area

 

Monday PM, 4.2.08

The sunny weather and wonderful
visibility stood in sharp contrast to the sad sights and filth we saw all
throughout the shift.

Abu Dis.  At
the Gate stood 8 BPs.  No Palestinians
crossing. One BP said that only 350 people are allowed to pass there.

Olives terminal. 
Few people crossing, mainly women. We wanted to go to the other side,
but at the entrance to Al Ezariya was a red sign forbiding Israelis from
entering.

Container CP. No lines on either side. Very few cars
checked. One taxi from Bethlehem
was stopped, papers were examined, but soon it was sent on its way. The
turnstile for the pedestrians was stuck and they all squeezed through a very
narrow path next to it.

Sheikh Saed. 
The newly built CP is manned by 2-3 BPs and the same number of civilian
guards. We were not allowed to enter.

 

A-Ram – Qalandiya Area

 

Monday PM, 11.2.08, 14:00-16:30

A short and frustrating shift

Ar-Ram CP. 
We spoke with an employee of a car dealer, located opposite the CP.  He said that the road connecting some houses
on a hill across from the CP to the road to Jerusalem
was blocked off a few days ago with barbed wire coils. Until then people living
there could reach Jerusalem
without inspection, but afterwards they had to get out via a narrow side-alley
and cross the CP. The inhabitants of those buildings approached a lawyer,
whereupon the barbed wire was moved away. Traffic passed uninterrupted.

Qalandiya CP. 
We parked across from the entrance to the CP. A large  new sign at the entrance states that this
area falls under the PA and entry is strictly forbidden to Israelis. We left in
frustration.

 

Thursday AM, 14.2.08

06.25 Anata. A teenage boy, his face and arm
swollen, is covered with mud. The other boys tell us that the CP guards hit
him.  The BP officer, just arrived, knew
nothing about the incident, but seemed quite worried.Traffic is very heavy,
mainly children, and the vehicle queue is very long. Checking is quite
thorough, many personnel. The line moves slowly.  Suddenly 2 soldiers started chasing two young
guys, but came back when they ran up the hill. Apparently the had been throwing
stones.

08.15 Qalandiya CP. 
Prisoners' families in the waiting area, and many people crowded at the
turnstiles. One man said he was there since 6am.
The magnometer that broke down last week has not been fixed yet. While we were
there another also stopped working. The lines barely advanced. The pressure was
unusual for that time of the day. We called the DCO, and an officer came out to
help sick people and mothers with babies through the side line, but there was
no relief for the "ordinary" people. The prisoners' families had to wait
till there were no lines, because of the shortage of magnometers.

 

Nablus Area

 

Sunday, 10.2.08, PM

14:00, Beit Iba. Far fewer people than usual: no
wonder, there is a strict curfew for all men aged 16-35 who live in the Jenin
and Tulkarm areas. The men behind the turnstiles have to wait far longer than
usual. The soldiers are rude.

14:15. Change
of shift, but nothing gets any faster, and there continue to be about 40 men at
the two turnstiles throughout the shift. It takes twenty to twenty five minutes
to get through. This group of soldiers excels at talking: talking to each other
and taking little notice of waiting vehicles or pedestrians. This is
particularly noticeable at the vehicle checking area which now sports working
traffic lights: red and green (but no yellow) and several brand new automatic
“arms” which can be lifted at will to let vehicles pass, etc. The ever
increasing efficiency of occupation.

15:15. As we
leave, the soldiers’ meals arrive. More time is taken off. And a waiting
Palestinian tells us that he is forbidden to cross into Nablus: the curfew is now said to be up
to age 45 (and he’s 44 years old). We offer to check this ruling with the
commander, but the man indicates he’s fed up, “We have no country, we are all
in prison all the time.”

 

Qalqiliya  Area

 

Sunday, 10.2.08, PM

13:30, Jubara. At the entrance to the checkpoint, the usual police barricades.
Several young men in handcuffs are sitting on the ground by the police trailer.

13:45, Junction of Routes 55 and 60. Rolling CP. 4 cars in line. Palestinian
vehicles, particularly trucks, attempt to get across the deep ditches to make
their way towards Jenin. At least one is stuck.

15:30. The
rolling CP is still in full force, and the line to go towards Anabta is quite
lengthy as we make our way up to Jit, where there’s no CP.

On the way to Qalqilya. Lots of army materiel on the
road, as well as blue police jeeps. The Shvut Ami outpost seems to be empty.

16:00, Azun. As we approach Azun we see a
giant earthmover and several large army trucks. The access to the town is
completely blocked by huge mounds of earth. Azun is under curfew.

16:10, Qalqilya. A long line of vehicles, at least 25, going in the direction of
Qalqilya, but hardly any leaving. Five reservists are manning the checkpoint
and, as is usual here, there’s random checking. 

16:30, Habla (on the seam line). It’s still half an hour to opening time
of the gate, but already men, women, horses and carts and cars, as well as
shepherds, goats and sheep have gathered to wait to go home. Many get off work
at 3:00, so have to wait two hours until
the Occupier deigns to open the gate for people to pass from their own fields
to their own homes on the other side of the separation barrier.

 

Hebron Area

 

Sunday AM, 10.2.08, 07:00- 10:30

07:00, Sansana CP.  200 people waiting. There doesn't seem to be
any movement. Some say they've been waiting for 20 minutes and some say 1.5
hours. Then miraculously the queue began to move, and within 25 minutes, the CP
is clear.  The workers complain that they
cannot pass work tools through the CP. 
The CO said that the rules are that the workers were supposed to pass
their tools during the first month of the civil operation of the CP and leave
them in Israel.
One person is required to leave behind a plastic bottle with olive oil, making
it hardly worth it for him to cross and work at the pay he's getting.  Two others are turned around because they
don't have a permit. The voice of the security inspector inside the facility
can be heard  all over the area –
unpleasant and degrading.

07:35. 
Soldiers open the side gate beside the revolving gate to go buy falafel.
As a result, the first revolving gate stops working and one worker stays
trapped inside until we intervene. Two people tell us that their permits have
been taken without any explanation, and they've been ordered to the GSS to
retrieve them. One has been at the GSS offices 3 times already and has yet to
get his back.

The bypass road to Ramadin was closed
about a week ago, and taxis are prohibited from getting near. People get to the
CP by foot through the mountains.

Sheep Junction. 
The taxi drivers tell us that soldiers break the windows of their
vehicles if they dare get too close  to
the barricade.  Another original form of
punishment is to sit the drivers down in the mud with their eyes covered.