A day tour to the checkpointsWednesday morning/afternoon, 4 May 2005Taking part: Michaela (guide), Edna, Tamar, Varda, Hanna, Esther, Anat, Susan. Leah’ke and Rachel N. – reporting. (Paula: translating).07:45 – We left Shoket junction with I, our driver. We drove on Road 60. Sansana checkpoint: manned by soldiers. On the way we detected that some of the barriers were removed, but many still are in place. We encountered sparse Palestinian traffic and still less military. It looked peaceful and quiet, without soldiers. Only at the Sheep junction were Palestinians crossing the road, on foot. After Gush-Etzion junction there was a checkpoint, with sparse traffic and no special incidents.08:30 – At Al-Khader junction we met with Michaela and the women from Rehovoth who came from Jerusalem. The junction of Road 60 with No. 375, that leads to Hosan and the area around is specially noisy and crowded. There are no marked crosswalks, and many accidents occur here. When the checkpoint is closed, due to alerts of suspected terrorist activity, the situation gets out of control. We went to look at the blocked road to Al-Khader and at the crossing path for pedestrians. We saw many people crossing over, and cabs from both sides of the blocked road. Heaps of garbage were scattered around. The noise was deafening. 3 Border Police soldiers handcuffed 2 youngsters and put them on a command car (No. 703428), to bring them to the Etzion station. People came to us for help. One asked if we could help him regain his driving license that was taken from him a year ago. Michaela wrote down the details, and Haya will handle the complaints with care and devotion. The local population cannot reach the police stations, for they need tasrichs [passage permits], licenses, that are hard to obtain. One came over and asked our help for payment of a fine, for he cannot reach the place where he is supposed to pay it. Another one, speaking Hebrew very well (from years of working within Israel), approached and told us of their economic sufferings, the robbed lands (for Efrat and other Jewish settlements). “You understand what is happening to us, and you are our life voice through whom we want our plight to be heard”. We returned to road 60, drove through the checkpoint of the tunnel, via Beit-Tsafafa and Tantour towards Bethlehem. Checkpoint 300: The checkpoint to the entrance into the town comprises many innovative-creative devices, “for the comfort of the population”, such as: an awning over the walkway, magnetometer metal detector, interrogation caravan, detention shelter, and “a route” for pedestrians, which looks more as path trodden by herds. When we came, there were shouts as the Green [Border] police were taking “illegals” [Palestinians staying in Israel without permits] out of a car. The car’s driver was an Israeli Arab and in his car were women and children. They were all sent into the shelter. One woman with her baby stayed outside, perhaps not willing to stay in the company of strange men. Three more detained people crouched on the ground. They were not allowed into the shelter, for they tried to escape. Through Anat’s intervention, we were promised that they would be allowed within 10 minutes into the “decent shelter”.11:00 – The cable car museum: At the Hebron road opposite Begin Center we stopped at Anat’s request. Her father, late Uriel Hefetz, initiated, planned and built the cable car in the Independence War. Her family is nowadays renovating the site, which served once as a hospital for eye diseases. It was a moving visit and we were glad for the opportunity to hear the story from Anat. Ras Al-Amud: Here is the building of the police for the Palestinian population. But not everyone can come to the “promised place” to fetch a permit, to ask for clarifications etc.We saw the Moskovitch compound in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood. We moved on towards the Wall that separates Ras Al-Amoud from Abu-Dis. 8 m’ in height. One has to see to believe. In Abu Dis we entered the desolate Cliff Hotel.The Parliament building looks desolate too and still incomplete. Everywhere looms the Wall, and where the building of the Wall is forbidden, there are fences. On the opposite hill a new neighborhood is being built: “Nofei Zahav” (The Golden Landscape), in Jabal Mukhabar. On another hill another building and a settlement, on the roof of it was a military outpost. On that hill, in the future, the settlement Kidmat Zion is planned. Some of the Palestinian residents have blue [Israeli] IDs and some do not. They are divided and enclaved between fences and walls within their neighborhoods. Families have been divided. They are separated from all the institutions: schools, medical facilities, everything. Even with the right authorization in hand, it will take hours to cross over. Without one, it’s as though you do not exist at all. Between Ras al-Amud and Azzaria and Abu-Dis there is a passage with a closed gate. The gate is locked. There is no key. Someone bent the fence. Now 3 Border Police soldiers stand and check the authorizations of the passers-by. One has to see this to believe it…On the way to Ar-Ram and Qalandiya checkpoint we pass the Augusta Victoria and Al-Muqassad Hospitals, two declining institutions, symbols of a dignified past. People cannot reach the hospitals because of the walls, the fences, and the roadblocks.All the neighborhoods that we have passed belong to West Jerusalem, their inhabitants pay their taxes but do not get services in return.Ar-Ram checkpoint: The traffic towards north flows, but southbound it’s stuck. We arrive not at a busy hour. We drive north. On our right: The Wall. It separates the neighborhood in two. Why? A short ride and we reach the notorious Qalandiya checkpoint, on the northern outskirts of Jerusalem. The noise is deafening. Machines are pounding into the mountain and bringing it down. People below are shouting, hawking their merchandise, cab drivers waiting, a lot of cars and lorries, and a lot of noise and filth and dust around. Pedestrians on their way north are not checked. Cars are checked for suspicion of being stolen vehicles. In the direction to south stood an endless line of people with children, with bundles. They have to go through a turnstile. We stared in bewilderment.We talked with second lieutenant R., who answered our questions with patience and politely, mentioning that we are not allowed to photograph, a closed military zone! He received an order to detain 3 people.15:00 – We return through the border line between East and West Jerusalem, and get a glimpse at the “other Jerusalem”: of parks, of light, of good infrastructure, of signal lights.We took our leave from Michaela, Anat, Tamar and Varda, and returned to Roads 60 and 317.The roads are quiet. Most of the ways, in and out of the villages, are blocked by dirt mounds and boulders. The Israeli settlements are lit and decorated for the festivities.