Shekh Saed, Abu Dis Tuesday, 27.06.2006, PMObservers: Rina H., Natanya G., Rahel W. (reporting) guest Shekh Saed – As we Approached we saw people running away from what was clearly a shooting of tear gas. At the checkpoint, we saw two young boys detained (kneeling on the ground, one in handcuffs), and an older man kneeling on the ground a little away from them. Suddenly, a BP jeep came tearing down the street and skidded to a halt near the checkpoint (throwing up a cloud of dust). When we asked the driver (Abu Zelef) why he had to drive like a madman, he asked if we had a camera. When I said “no”, he replied “then it never happened”. Asaf, one of the BP ordered us to get away.There were groups of people standing near the shops above the checkpoint and other groups standing across the street. They rushed to tell us what had happened at the checkpoint. The two boys (who live in Jabel Mukaber) crossed through the checkpoint to buy food at one of the shops. On the way back, they were asked to present their ID’s The older boy (17) presented his, but the younger one (14) did not yet have an ID but showed the photocopy of his birth certificate. The BP (A.) refused to accept the photocopy (we learned later that, by law, it is acceptable) and demanded to see the original. They tried to find the original in his home (right near the checkpoint), but couldn’t. The father, a lawyer who works with Rabbis for Human Rights, came to the checkpoint and showed that the boy’s name was in his blue ID, but A. wouldn’t accept that and detained all three of them.Within minutes, two more BP vehicles appeared, one carrying Amit a brigadir general. We asked Amit what was going on and why the boys were being detained for such a ridiculous reason and he said that they were being held for attacking a BP. He invited me to be present as he phoned in the report. As he did so, he took testimony from A.According to A., he was hit in the back by one of the boys. First, he said it was the younger one and then he said it was the older one. (Amit snapped at him as to which boy it really was – there were only two of them). When Amit asked where and how he attacked him, he said the boy pushed him on his back. He then said that the younger boy kicked him from the front. Then, he said, the father joined in the attack. At that point, A. threw two tear gas grenades to “disperse the people”. I asked Amit if it seemed reasonable to him that in the midst of all those BP (at that point, there were about 10 of them), they would have just stood there and allowed three people to beat up on a BP. Amit said that at the time of the incident, there were only 3 border policemen and they were busy checking other people.We called E. to ask him to look into this. He said he would but never called back. We tried P., but got no answer. After a half hour, the three were packed into a jeep and taken to the Oz detention center. Many of the people standing around expressed their complaints about BP A. They said that whenever he is at the checkpoint, there is trouble. He hits, pushes, and bullies people – especially young people. I relayed these reports to Amit, stating very clearly that what I was reporting was hearsay – albeit reported by several individuals at different places and at different times – and that we did not witness this ourselves, (just as he did not witness the detainees attacking A.). I suggested that he follow up on these complaints before something even more serious happens.Amit, a handsome, scrupulously neat, soft spoken officer staunchly stood by his men. To all reports of bullying, crass and cruel behavior, he responded that his men carried out their tasks thoroughly, and this sometimes involved unpleasantness. When I asked if three jeeps, gas grenades and 10 BP and detentions were all necessary to deal with a case of the photocopy of a 14 year old’s birth certificate, he responded that they were carrying out their job in the proper manner. It was helpless. I was talking to a stone.Two other incidents: A man from Hebron with a forged permit was detained. His wife had given birth in a hospital in A-Tur, and the baby obviously had some problems. He wanted to visit her in hospital. His documents were taken and he was waiting to get them back.A man was really distraught because his father was in intensive care at Hadassah Ein Karem and his mother wanted to visit him and was not allowed through. We put him in touch with Physicians for Human Rights.We took a quick drive to Abu-Dis where all was all too quiet. Not a soul (aside from the BP stationed along the wall) to be seen.We left with a terrible feeling of sadness. Had we arrived at Shekh Saed just ten minutes earlier, we would have been eye witnesses to what had occurred. What is more, had we arrived 10 minutes earlier, there would probably not have been an incident at all because of our very presence!