Bethlehem Area

Sunday AM, 26.2.08

07:00 Bethlehem CP. Crowds on the street as well as
inside, but people said crossing was quick today. 5 booths open and many people, but little
tension.

07:45 Ezyon DCL. A small crowd in front of the
locked door. At 08:00, 2 DCL officers, armed and with helmets in hands,
ordered people away from the door and behind the cement blocks until the door
was opened. The Palestinians obeyed quietly with expressionless faces.

Monday PM, 25.2.08, 14:00-17:00

Ezyon DCL. Empty but for a couple of young
men waiting for a 'captain'.

Heading back, a hailstorm started. Probably due to the hail no soldiers stood
outside to check the busses across from the entrance to Tantur.

Bethlehem CP: The storm intensified, and we
remained in the car. People were running in record speed from the busses into
the Terminal and then towards the exit. Only one person sported an umbrella
(probably a tourist). Fortunately, no Palestinian had to stand waiting in the torrential
rains.

Tuesday, 26.2.08, AM

06:30, Bethlehem CP. The usual: terrible crowding at the Palestinian entrance, where two of
the three turnstiles are functioning; long lines inside, where only 5 of the 12
checking posts are functioning. From above, a female voice screams
unintelligible orders.

07:50, Ezyon DCL. 10 are waiting for magnetic
cards. The DCL opens on time 8:00. The first two men emerge minutes later with the cards.

Wednesday PM, 27.2.08

15:45 Bethlehem CP. Apparently, the Armenian Patriarch visited Bethlehem. The
iron gate to Bethlehem at the roundabout was open, and the roundabout area was full of blue
police, border police, and even mounted police. This caused quite a lineup of
cars headed towards the CP,
but the line quickly vanished once the patriarch entered and the gate was
closed.

Ezyon DCL, 16:00-16:40. Only about 6 people around. A merchant told us that his permit, always
renewed in the past, was revoked, and he was called a liar for protesting that
he is indeed a merchant. He brought documents to prove it, and these were under
perusal with "the captain" We encouraged him to contact us if his
efforts did not succeed. He claimed his particular problem was widespread. Has
anyone else heard about new obstacles for merchants to renew their permits?
This is usually done at the Palestinian DCL, and only problematic cases are
sent to Ezyon. And back again. etc. A math teacher came to renew his annual
magnetic card. Although he was there before closing time, he was told to
"come back tomorrow". We tried,
but failed, to get a straight answer from the soldier at the window whether the
place was in fact open or closed. That soldier's bottom line was that everyone
had left so it was closed. But then the officer arrived, and not only claimed
that the DCL was open, but even agreed to service the teacher then and there.
But the man chose not to enter, saying he would come the next day, out of fear
that if he entered at our intervention, he might be made "to pay" for
it. He wanted to take no chances.

17:00 Bethlehem CP. About 100 people lining up, only 2 windows open. Each individual passed
quickly enough, but the number of open windows was not appropriate for the
number of waiting people. The guard refused to ask for more windows, saying
there is no manpower. But another guard arrived, who asked for more openings at
his own initiative.

Ar-Ram – Qalandiya Area

Sunday PM, 24.2.08

15:45, Qalandiya:
2 pedestrian passages operating, lines short. 3-4 people waiting on the DCL
benches. No problems in the vehicle area. At 4pm the DCL closed, without receiving the waiting
people, even if they had been waiting since 13:00.

16:30: One pedestrian
gate closed, slowing passage to 16 minutes. Recurrent problems with the
carousels at the CP exit. Laborers returning from their day's work were
intermittently caught in front of the locked carousel. Finally, the problem was solved.

16:45: 50 people waiting outside the northern carousels with
more arriving all the time. The soldier
in the control room continued to talk on
her phone and paid no attention to what was happening in the passageways.

Tuesday PM, 26.2.08

Anata. Many children (over 1000?)
returning from school. The CP well
staffed. No traffic backed up in either
direction and much pedestrian traffic as well, some just walking out unchecked.

Leel CP. A huge line of vehicles, carefully
checked, all with green plates. A sign
forbids Israelis to cross.

Thursday AM, 28.2.08

06.25 Anata CP. A huge traffic jam, partly due to internal traffic,
but otherwise quiet. Fewer soldiers than
usual. One driver was stopped but then
released. Many cars had their trunks
checked.

07.20 Ar-Ram. Long car queue, but routine checking. One pedestrian was held up, but soon let
through. Schoolchildren had to open
their bags,and wait for the soldier to
signal that they may pass. In contrast, in
Anata children pass without being stopped or checked. Two teenage girls with pulled along suitcases
had to hoist her case up on to a wall to open it, but the guard didn't even
bother to look in it!

07.40 Qalandiya. Amazingly, no queue at the outer
turnstile. The prisoners' families were
already at the gates. That's how it can
be when the equipment works and the
organization is efficient. The police
officer was also helpful to individual people (even if not always successful).

Nablus Area

Sunday, 24.2.08, PM

A state of no passage of Palestinians of certain
age groups into and out of town) is imposed.

Zaatara (Tapuach) Junction. No waiting lines.

15:20, Huwwara. Very long lines entering Nablus. The
military engineers did not include in their planning considerations a situation
in which the army would decide to inspect people on their way in as well.
Everyone crowds between the two very narrowly spaced chicken wire fences that
constitute the 'sleeve' through which the entry turnstile is usually
approached. Two soldiers, pointing their rifles at the pedestrians waiting in
this line, perform the selection who will continue into Nablus and
who will be refused. The narrowness of this passage forces everyone to crowd
insufferably, men, the elderly, women and children who are not in the banned
age brackets. An English teacher from Jenin who now resides in Nablus and
teaches at Beita is denied entry. He turns to the checkpoint commander, a
second lieutenant who, with a sealed expression, listens to the teacher
appealing to him again and again, and keeping still. Finally we approach the DCL
representative and after he hears us out, he gets the teacher through. Later
apparently the officer turns out to be a speaker after all: "Enough, you
dumb women. I'm sick of you!" And later, "You collaborate with them
instead of worrying about the soldiers". When we take one step across the
'white line': "You want to go into Nablus too?
Go marry them…" Two soldiers stop a herd of sheep at the east of the
checkpoint on the Nablus side. They lock him up in the detention cubicle and try to chase away the
sheep by throwing stones at them. The shepherd's little brothers take the sheep
away while their brother sits out his punishment, three hours of detention,
"because he approached the checkpoint with a flock of sheep", as the DCL
explains.

16:00. The line is long. Occasionally men are
required to take their shoes off going through the metal detector in their
socks on the filthy floor. Others are forced to run over to the X-ray truck and
back to receive their IDs. The men waiting in line know that insubordination to
the rules of standing in line will cost them extra waiting.

16:30. Young men report two hours waiting time. The
vehicle checking line is conducted as usual, passengers getting off 10 meters
away from the post, driver arriving with everyone's IDs, passengers waiting far
away, the whole checking process sometimes lasting 20 minutes. A man who drove from Awarta on the
Israelis-only road has already been detained for two hours as punishment. The DCL
regards this as an obvious fact, so what if there is no road sign forbidding
Palestinian traffic? The driver is supposed to know it's forbidden.

18:20. The soldiers announce a 'life-freeze' and
close the checkpoint. They crawl, practice would-be-shooting and leap over
concrete ledges in front of the astounded Palestinians. Within five minutes,
about 60 people accumulate at the entry line, women with babies in their arms,
a woman cancer patient on her way back from treatment, people on their way home
from work, and the soldiers stand around talking. For 15 minutes they sand
chatting. When the checkpoint re-opens, there are already over 100 people, all
crowded into that narrow sleeve, and the soldiers checking IDs in the dark. As
a result, they let most of the people through rather quickly, without really
checking.

17:13, Beit Furiq. Few pedestrians, rapidly let through. Few vehicles,
checked first only in one lane, then two. Beit Furiq and Beit Dajan residents
have already become used to the fact that only they are allowed through this
checkpoint, so no more tragic scenes are held here of relatives wishing to
visit their family or anyone who is not officially a resident here.

Tuesday, 26.2.08, AM

According to the soldiers, confirmed by the
Palestinians, as of today there's no closure nor separation.

07:35--08:45, Beit Iba. The soldiers are surprisingly friendly. This is their
last day at this checkpoint, which may explain it. Passage is quick. At first
the ones entering the city are not checked at all, then they are checked
randomly, most of the time men only. A dog-handler and her dog check some cars,
obviously to train the dogs. Three young men are led to the detainees'
enclosure. They are "drippers", to use army lingo -- they walked
through the surrounding hills to evade the checkpoint.

Thursday, 28.2.08, PM

There did not seem to be any extra collective
restrictions enforced in the area of Nablus.

15:36–18:10, Beit Iba. Especially crowded and tense. At any given time there
were at least 100 pedestrians waiting in line, and at times -- close to 200.
Waiting time: about half an hour. The MPs were very rude and nervous. When
belts and shoes were to be removed, the belts had to be thrown on the ground
and people had to stand on the filthy ground in their socks. The Commander was
not in control of his soldier’s behavior, and although he seemed to have good
intentions, he may have been overwhelmed by the immensity of the job.

Over 60 people were waiting most of the time at the
“humanitarian” line. Waiting time: about 10 minutes. Checking here was
laborious, but when the line got too long, checking was speeded up and people
were waved through for a few minutes.

Pedestrians going into Nablus were
checked quite thoroughly. This seemed unusual since we’ve often seen just a
random check done.

There were 7 detainees. Four of them had tried to
bypass the CP. They were held an hour and then were sent to the back of the
line. When we were about to leave at 18:00, 2 more detainees arrived.

At the peak of the traffic jam coming into Nablus there
were 30 vehicles on line. From Nablus -- an
average of 8 to 10 vehicles. Waiting time: around a half hour in both
directions.

Qalqiliya Area

Tuesday, 26.2.08, AM

No closures. The taxi drivers everywhere say,
"all is well today". Joy of the poor.

06:30--07:00, Qalqilya. Few vehicles both directions, and they are hardly
checked, but the soldiers manning the entrance side take it easy, and lines
form. Eventually I approach them and ask politely to show consideration for the
people, their time and the fact that this is not the only checkpoint the have
to pass today. They claimed that this is their way to "prevent
burnout". But they did start passing vehicles without delay, at least
while we were there.

Azun. This is our first sight of the new sand embankment and barbed-wire
"curls" blocking the entrance to the village. Gone is the nice square
and one more ugly construction is added to the concrete, boulders and
barbed-wire jungle disfiguring the occupied territories. A teacher from
Qalqilya in her long dress embarks upon her mountain-climbing feat on her way
to work.

09:00--09:15, Anabta. Unlike other times, no lines at all and the few vehicles
pass without checking.

09:25--10:00, Jubara. We didn't make it into the village nor to Ar-Ras. The unit
manning the checkpoint changed, the key to the village-gate disappeared.

Thursday, 28.2.08, PM

14:15, Tulkarm. The entrance to Azun from route 55 is still blocked by a
high wall of dirt and boulders. The more southern entrance (the old route 55)
is open to traffic.

We stopped at Kufr Sur to deliver official forms to
be filled in with details of village residents in need of permission to cross
over to their land. Even though they may have land both near the Salet gate
(839) and the Children's Gate (735), they can get permission for only one.

14:57, Ar-Ras. 20 vehicles on line from Tulkarm; none going in. 10
workers were waiting at the Children's Gate (735) to go back home.

15:00, Jubara. 10 vehicles of Israeli Arabs were waiting on line to leave
the territories. Settlers and Jewish Israelis are allowed to go through on a
separate line.

15:16--15:40, Anabta, 20 vehicles on line in each direction. The lines were
moving along. Checking in both directions was random.

A taxi driver was detained because he tried to cut
around. When the soldiers told him to go to the back of the line, he refused.
He told us that he was only dropping passengers off. He was NOT going through
the CP to Tulkarm.

18:49--19:10, Qalqilya. 15 vehicles on line to Qalqilya; no cars coming out.
Israeli cars were not allowed entrance into Qalqilya if they were not on the
soldier's list. They could walk in, though.

Jordan Valley

Thursday PM, 28.2.08

12:04 Ma'ale Efraim CP. Drowsy soldiers lean on
their rifles at this CP, and no cars in sight.

13:10 Tiasir CP. A soldier chants Jewish songs as
he checks a car meticulously. The driver attempts to place his bags on the
floor with care, yet their contents spill on the floor. 'Know this song?' asks the soldier amicably. All car passengers
dismount before they arrive at the CP, to continue on foot. Pedestrians and
drivers are stopped at a distance of 10 meters. The soldiers announce over the
speakers: "Raise your shirt", and all males, including children 7
years old, do so. The soldiers poke around the children's school bags.

15:13 The gate on the road between Tiasir and Hamra CPs
is open Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, 08:00-08:30 and 15:00-15:30. Only then can Palestinian cars pass. The gate is
open now and a tractor full of Bedouins passes.

15:47 Hamra CP. 'Today is good', we are greeted
by one of the men who had just passed.
In the shed is a detainee, hands handcuffed behind his back, sitting on
the concrete floor. He is a shepherd from Hirbat Tane. A soldier says he was
caught with a big knife, admitting the shepherd was nowhere near the CP or the
soldiers, and did not resist search and arrest.
In fact the knife was just 15 cm long. He's been here for an hour,
waiting for the police. Here too, men and children must raise their shirts to
pass. 16:30 a
police car arrives. An officer congratulates the soldiers on a job well done.
The plastic handcuffs are removed, leaving a mark on the man's wrists). The
shepherd says he'd rather die than abandon his sheep while he is taken by the
police. The officer grabs him by the back of the neck, pushes him towards the
wall and makes him bend down, facing the wall. The soldiers take photos of the
prisoner. 10 soldiers standing around doing nothing.

17:30 The prisoner released, and heads towards the hills
to look for his sheep, as the sky darkens.

Hebron Area

Sunday
AM, 24.02.08

05:00-06:50.
Tarqumiya - On the way to the CP
dozens of transits pass us. Apparently the CP opened at 04:00, and passage was rapid. Still, drivers with blue
IDs waited to pass for up to 30 minutes, except for those from Qiryat Arba. A
man who had his ribs broken when he was crushed by the mass of people at the CP last month stopped to talk to
us, telling us of others' woes.

High Court

Sunday AM, 24.2.08

09:00 3 blacklisted Bethlehemites petitioned the court,
after we (MW) were unsuccessful in petitioning the Civil Administration on
their behalf for a lifting of their security blacklisting. M is married to a Jerusalem woman; I,
father of 13, refused to collaborate with the GSS, and F, father of 5, whose
brother was killed. The judge ruled against M, advising him to appeal in the
framework of family reunification. However, the reality is that this is the
more difficult path; people are blacklisted to prevent family reunification. After
the presentation of the cases, the judge asked to hear the GSS in camera. and
the public was asked to leave. Upon returning to the court room, we heard the
judge's decision to uphold the blacklisting.
On what basis can the judge decide? There were no witnesses and no way
to defend oneself. The charges are not for acts committed but for family or
social relations. Perhaps greetings were
exchanged on the street with certain people, family events were attended by
certain people, etc. The only way to
prevent this is to cut off all one's ties, to shut one's telephone and to live
as a prisoner in one's own house. Since everything is classified, the accused
themselves don't know what they are accused of.
They weren't even at the court, as they don't have permits to go there!
The judge approved the defense counsel's request to apply for a permit again in
6 months. Meanwhile, how will the families eat?