Abu-Dis, Shekh Saed, Zeitim CPFriday, 2.6.2006, AM (08:45-12:30)Observing and reporting: Mikhal Z, Rita M.Summary – Imagine the following scene (we did not have a camera):A soldier running towards a group of 30 – 40 people, mostly elderly women balancing large bundles on their heads, behind a coil of barbed wire. He cocks his gun, and kneels, pointing his gun towards them… This photo-inspiring scene is repeated twice in the hour and a half we spent at Sheikh Sa’ad, accompanied by the theatrical pulling out of a black sound-grenade, by another soldier, at times throwing it up in the air and catching it, making it clear who holds the power here.Question: what is worse – scenes such as these, or the sterility of the Zeitim CP. Answer: occupation is occupation is occupation Zeitim CP – No shelter, or shade for people who must wait for the bus.Shekh Saed – 08:45 – We witness the pointed gun scene, just as we arrive. And later again, to the group of people – mostly elderly women: “Nobody here listens to me – so go back, up.” Now, in anger, he cocks his gun. His name is D. The scene repeats itself. The elderly women plead, cry. If they cross the barbed wire without his permission, they must go back. If a group finds another way to get across, behind some houses, they are chased back, up the hill, behind the barbed wire. “One by one”, the BP says. Those with blue ID’s too must play the game of obedience, and come up one by one. Eventually, after much pleading, most of the elderly women and elderly men do pass, one by one, if they follow the rules of the game, with the accompanying humiliations. Including one middle-aged man from Hebron who works in Jerusalem wakf, another who has an old paper about his kidney condition. “I just pull it out, to scare them” says the second BP soldier about his sound-grenade “act”. Orders not to let anyone through. “We do them a favor and let those who live in Sheikh Sa’ad through. But they come here from Hevron, from Ramallah, from Jericho!!” says the BP in amazement – this is indeed, the last remaining checkpoint in the eastern Jerusalem area without a “terminal”. After the local residents’ victory at the supreme court that put a stop to the building of the wall at this place, where it would separate between Sheikh Sa’ad and Jabel Mukaber, we understand, from the lawyer who argued the case, that the next legal battle is to get blue ID’s for the residents of Sheikh Sa’ad (for those who do not have one already – as Sheikh Sa’ad is actually a neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, with members of the same families). It turns out that, despite the court order, only a handful of the Sheikh Sa’ad residents (of those who do not have a blue ID) have received permits to enter Jerusalem – and so they are at the mercy of the “good will” and “favors” of the particular BP who happens to be there, to enter the city, or just to visit their family in Jabel Mukaber, or to avail themselves of the health, educational, and social services that they rely on. Interesting to note that the sound-grenade-carrying BP is a native speaker of Arabic, though uses only Hebrew to yell out orders to the Palestinians – while he even resorts to whistling to call them back, shouting “ha-baita” (in Hebrew: “go home”, the way you would say it to a dog…) if they are caught passing behind the houses. Only in one to one conversations does he switch to Arabic. Hebrew is indeed the language of the overlords. The BP explains that only here he carries all his gear on him – his gun, the sound-grenade, the ammunition for his gun, the club, his helmet. At other checkpoints he does not feel the need to use them, and leaves some of the equipment in the jeep.Still, the situation is not tense. Nobody is threatening the soldiers. It seems more like a performance to show who is in charge. And again we witness the cocked gun scene, and again, one by one, most of the elderly do pass. Others are chased down the street, returned to their positions behind the barbed wire, plead again, and perhaps they do manage to pass, after playing out their part, the way it is scripted… We leave the scene, to play itself out over and over again. Abu-Dis – (we take the road to Silwan and up to Ras el Amud)Lower pishpash: nobody goes through. two BP make sure of that.At one of the locked private-yard gates: two BP are checking the ID’s of men who are on the other side still – they read the numbers on the phone. One man gets an O.K., that his permit is valid, and so he will be able to cross at the Zeitim CP – Not here. Nobody crosses here. They must learn to go to the official checkpoint… “What did we spend millions on that checkpoint if it is not used?” says the BP.The other man’s check turns out the fact that he had been arrested for security offenses in the past – and the soldier decides he must be detained, because he is trying to enter into Israel without a permit, having had a security record. The man protests – that was in 1982. And now he did not even try to get into Israel – he was still on the eastern side of the private-yard locked gate and only asked the soldier if he could pass. “No”, says the female BP – “you crossed the wall over there” (the wall-in-the-making – with the white bricks, that is only about a meter tall at the moment, but will be at least five, if not eight…) – “that is the territories, behind the wall. Here (even though the man is behind the locked high metal gate) you are in Israel”. The Pishpash – Indeed, deserted. Nobody passes – only people who are on “the list” of those who appealed to the supreme court. no transits. no private taxi drivers.and few people trying to cross: they must have learned their lesson. they have been properly “trained”, they do not even show up… We are not allowed in. Orders. We say we passed the previous week. “Well, the orders are as of today” – says the BP, firmly, with no intention to budge. Zeitim CP – Totally deserted, too. No taxis waiting, no buses, no private cars. The loudspeaker is very present though, in the deserted spaces. Loud. Resounding. Orders screamed out, to the lone person trying to cross through the deserted turnstiles. He does not have the proper papers. There is no mercy. Resigned, he returns. It is clear that there is no room here to plead, no room for “special considerations”, for “personal judgment” of the local officer. No “special favors” for the elderly going to pray on Fridays – no “minimum age” and all the negotiations around that – whether is it 60, or 55, or 45 this week…So which is better? Here, at the Zeitim CP they have the loudspeakers, the electrically operated turnstiles, the bullet-proof glass windows, the high fences and there, in Sheikh Sa’ad they have coils of barbed wire on the ground, the sound-grenade and the gun. A group of people arrive, most seem to pass. We meet a couple with Blue ID’s who pay municipal tax to Jerusalem municipality – and whose house is just on other side of the wall – the wall was built right in front of their eyes, leaving them behind it. The husband is very upset that there is no gate here for cars, at the Zeitim CP – they are allowed to drive into Jerusalem with their car, but it is too long a ride and too expensive to drive all away around through the Ma’ale Adumim road, when they live right here. And now they must wait for a bus – in the hot sun – there is no shade here, and no shelter for the rain. There are no buses, or they take a long time to come, as few people pass here. A private car owner wants 40 shekels to take them to the old city, to pray. The husband is getting more and more furious. Spills out his anger at the Israelis, who “must pay, one day, for what they are doing to the Palestinians”. The woman has a pacemaker, and waits in the scant shade at a distance. We end up taking them to the old city, as the bus never came.