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Bethlehem (300), Fri 29.6.12, Morning

Place: Bethlehem (300)
Tags: Children
Observers: claire Oren (reporting)
Jun-29-2012
| Morning

Bethlehem Checkpoint 300:

Summary : Children are targetted ; people are “streamed” according to the convenience of the Israeli side ; there is distinct hostility towards MachsomWatch.

Palestinians report that there is a huge number of people still waiting on the Palestinian side. On the Israeli side, three inspection-stations are open. When a large queue builds-up, a message is sent to the other side to stop the stream of people.

There are a number of cases of children trying to sneak-through. The female soldier in inspection station number 2 screams at them and asks the security guard to pay attention to the last turnstile.

Many children are turned back today. A family of parents with a small girl aged 3 and two brothers aged 7 and 10 arrives. The female soldier shouts and sends them all back. I approach in order to find out why they have all been turned back. The soldier refuses to talk to me and the security-guard instructs everyone to stop passing Palestinians through the checkpoint until I return to the wall. I make phone-calls to the humanitarian center to complain about this method, and about the shouting, and again about the episodes of the children.

In the meantime the family waits and the soldier whom I had asked why the little girl is not allowed through, checks and passes her through with her mother, while the father and the two boys are forced to return home. The mother and her daughter march off in the direction of Jerusalem. Suddenly they turn back and the mother calls to the father and gives him the house-keys.

A grandmother arrives, together with her daughter and grand-daughter aged 4, all of them happy and cheerful. The little girl passes under the turnstile and stands there waiting for her mother and grandmother.The female soldier shouts at the the girl and accuses the young mother “why are you laughing ?”. The mother smiles a bewildered smile and explains that they are on their way to an outing. and explains that they are on their way to an outing. The grandmother tries to intervene and spreads-out all the permits on the inspection-station window. There is a lot of tension, but eventually there is no reason found to prevent them passing and they go on their way.

A father with three children arrives, and at first doesn’t believe that he cannot pass, he tries to argue but nothing helps.  

  • Bethlehem (300)

    See all reports for this place
    • Located adjacent to the Separation Wall ("Jerusalem Wrap") at the north entrance to Bethlehem, this checkpoint cuts off Bethlehem and the entire West Bank from East Jerusalem, with all the serious implications for health services, trade, education, work and the fabric of life. The checkpoint is manned by the Border police and private security companies. It is an extensive infrastructure barrier and is designated as a border terminal, open 24 hours a day for foreign tourists. Israeli passport holders are not allowed to pass to Bethlehem, and Palestinian residents are not allowed to enter Jerusalem, except those with entry permits to Israel and East Jerusalem residents. Israeli buses are allowed to travel to Bethlehem only through this checkpoint.
      The checkpoint, which demonstrated harsh conditions of crowding and extreme passage delays for years, started employing advanced electronic identification posts and has upgraded its gates' system as of the middle of 2019  - and conditions improved.
      Adjacent to the checkpoint, in an enclosure between high walls and another passage, is the historic Rachel's Tomb, which is now embedded within a concrete fortified building. It contains prayer and study complexes for Jews only, as well as a residential complex. updated  November 2019   .
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