Bethlehem, Fri 17.6.11, Morning
9:15-11:15 am
Observers and reporters: Efrat B., Claire O. (both reporting). Ilil N.-B. (translating)
Bethlehem– Checkpoint 300: once again, the parking structure is closed. We park before the turn, on a dirt path. At the beginning of our shift, only 2 lanes are open. There’s a longer line than usual. At 10:00, two more lanes are opened, and the lines get significantly shorter. At 11:00, one lane is closed and three remain.
A female soldier in the first lane is hostile and rude. A Palestinian who raises his voice so she can hear him through the glass (she, for her part, has a microphone) is scolded: “Don’t raise your voice!” When I approach her at the beginning, and say, “Why don’t you open another lane, look at the long line,” she mocks me contemptuously and says, “Why don’t you mind your own business.” I respond, “You can be polite, you’re supposed to be serving people here.” But she doesn’t answer, and from that moment on, we’re like air to her.
Again, the most intolerable thing is that some children were prevented from passing. If children are such a threat, why allow them to get all the way to the lane on the Israeli side, after waiting and hoping to breathe free air, to visit relatives, to pray…? Most of the children weren’t allowed to pass. Their relatives turned beseechingly to the soldiers, but got no help.
Did we see a few children escape the soldiers’ obedient and obtuse gaze, or was it merely our imagination, the fruit of our dreams and longing…?
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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