We set off just a little while after the explosion in Qalandiya checkpoint, which took place around 15:00, was reported. 15:40,
Gilo neighborhood.
We drove to Gilo in order to search for “Gilo Checkpoint”, which appears on the July edition of The OCHA checkpoints’ map. We didn’t find it; it probably refers to checkpoint 300 in Bethlehem.
We Drove from Gilo to Gush Ezion through Wallaja. On this road, after passing Ein Yallo, there was a checkpoint with Border Police soldiers.
After being asked they answered that the checkpoint is active every day, 24 hours. One of the concessions that were published by IDF Spokesman was the removal of the checkpoint at Junction X, in the southern (?) entrance of Wallaja, and that was supposed to ease the villagers’ movement, but at the other side of this road (north) the checkpoint of Ein Yallo is active.
We kept driving through Wallaja to Beit Jalla checkpoint. 16:10. A long line of cars at the entrance to Beit Jalla.
Every car is checked but there aren’t any detainees. There’s a man waiting nearby. He says that he hasn’t been delayed, but forgot his ID card and can’t go back to his village, Husan, and he’s waiting for one of his relatives to come with the missing ID.
The checkpoint is occupied by few paratroopers, and there are also few Border Policemen around (the Border Police unit which serves at both Checkpoint 300 and Tunnel Road are staying at the base behind this checkpoint).
The soldiers let us pass to the other side and we can see the line of cars going out of the village. The line is relatively short, unlike the mornings, when many citizens go to work. The soldiers were kind until someone shouted off a watching tower: “Why are you speaking with them? They drive terrorists to the checkpoints”.
We kept driving on road 60 to the south, passed El Khader and at the first junction turned at road 375 towards Hussan (which is blocked from all sides but can be approached by a road that goes on its southern side and leads to Batir). We kept driving on road 375; on the right side, there were two watching towers that seemed active (the soldiers inside couldn’t be seen because of camouflage curtains). Further on the road, on the way to the village Wadi Pukin, we saw combat engineering soldiers putting wires around Hussan. At Beitar Checkpoint (“Wadi Pukin Checkpoint” according to The OCHA map), opposite the settlement of Beitar Ilit, there weren’t any delays. According to the soldier, the checkpoint is active 24 hours a day, every day.
At the entrance to Wadi Pukin the road is branching out and at the end of the new road, there’s a gate to an army base but no soldier is seen. 17:10, El-Khader. No army or police presence. Tunnel Road is occupied with paratroopers; no detainees.
17:45. On the way to Checkpoint 300, opposite Tantur, we see a Border Policeman checking ID, probably of a Palestinian.
Three people are sitting at the checkpoint’s entrance and telling that when the soldier at the junction found out they had magnet cards but no permits, he took their IDs and sent them to wait at the checkpoint. They say they have been waiting for two hours. Five other people are sitting at the detainees shed. The door of the investigation room is opened; the investigators are probably sitting inside. A few cars are waiting in the line towards Bethlehem, and there’s a very long line towards the other side. Only one lane is opened to traffic to both directions. Soldiers are shouting at drivers who walk to the checkpoint to see what is going on and send them back to their cars.
Officer Y. doesn’t let us get closer. When we ask what about the three men whose IDs were taken, he says that they are waiting to be investigated. There’s a line of about 20 people at the pedestrian pass. When we approach two military vehicles next to the detainees shed in order to check about the taken IDs, one of the policemen is saying: “It’s a madhouse in Jerusalem. There’s an emergency situation, and lots of patience is needed.”
He doesn’t know where the IDs are.
No one knew about the IDs at the other vehicle also, and they also spoke about the high tension in Jerusalem. We went back to the junction to find the soldier who took the IDs. Next, to the gate of Tantur there are two border policemen, female and male, sitting on the ground, leaning back on the stone wall.
A., the policewoman, answers kindly that they are the ones who took the IDs, that those three people were caught inside the territory of Israel without staying permits. They don’t return the IDs to their owners because they are waiting for instructions from their superiors, which are supposed to pick them up in a short while and take them back to the checkpoint. The IDs of the detainees are kept at the policemen’s pockets and will be returned to their owners after being checked and after a specific form will be filled. When we left the spot, they were still sitting there, on the street, just like they themselves were detainees.