Qalandiya, Wednesday afternoon, 28.01.04 Ivonne M., Tami B., Netanya G., Aya K (Reporting). South Qalandiya As soon as we got out of the taxi, the drivers gathered around us in a kind of childish glee, excited, and told us how, two days previously, at 21:30, to the amazement of all, the police arrived at the check point and handcuffed around 7 soldiers and took them, all of them accused of taking bribes (incidently, this was published both in Yediot and in HaAretz, how they asked for Talkman cards, money, expensive cigarettes and so forth, for all kinds of “basic human rights” (not in the words of the newspapers) like the right to park their taxi near the check point and similar things). Later, we learned from the new soldiers, from the engineering corps and a few from the military police (ten refugees as one of the soldiers left over from the military police said, with a sense of humour), that the Unit had been dispersed in the light of this event. There is a new Unit for Check points being organized now, which will begin its service in the middle of February, and Qalandiya will be the first location; meanwhile, the remains of the military police company and the present soldiers will be at Qalandiya. When Omar Matar, a child of 14, was murdered by soldiers (a live bullet to the neck) in one of those familiar events which are often mentioned, in which children throwing stones from a huge distance, not at all close to the soldiers (and even if they were close, is it appropriate to answer stones with bullets? But that isn’t even discussed…) and soldiers run after them to hunt them down, with live fire or rubber bullets, or both, in the air or not…common events. A chronicle of unavoidable death, as Roni Hammerman says. Since we were actually present at that horrible event, two of the MachsomWatch women, there were charges brought, not happily or easily, as they said, against that soldier who was, incidentally, one of many “good” ones, both during that event and in those following. That company was not dispersed. There was no internal investigation. We continued to see the same soldiers running on the hills after the children disappearing in the direction of Qalandiya, while they are chasing them and shooting at them while they are running away, continuing, at the check point, with firing….but bribery? Good heavens! The murder of three children this year, and that only by chance, “luck”, that doesn’t require any investigation or concern, but bribery? That is a real crime. Of the sort that a Jew shouldn’t dirty himself with it. Even in relation to a Palestinian]. North Qalandiya Less cold than on previous days, no rain. Unlike the sights of the last month (except for Tuesday), there is a long line of people. More than 300. It seems to us that this might be because of the coming holiday, the Feast of the Sacrifice (from Sunday to Thursday). It seems that people who had already stopped trying to pass are anyway trying now, perhaps the need to make a living for the holiday, that it how it seems to us. An officer by the name of Assaf is the Commander of the check point, from the Engineering corps, inflexible, “according to the book”, no deviance or common sense. Some cases like this (small children by themselves, women carrying babies) try to pass on the side as is commonly done, but they are sent back rudely to stand in the line, “socialistic values” as Tami B. says. A man with two small children arrives, “Ya’allah, get in line”, Assaf shouts at him, “I won’t go, I have to get to the Kupat Holim clinic”. “I don’t care, stand in line, you’re no different”. We tried to intervene, but couldn’t, the man didn’t give up: “Shoot me”, he said, continuing to walk, in both his hands holding the two little scared children, paying no attention to the voice of the soldiers. I don’t remember if they gave in or, in spite of everything, he was shoved back into line.”There were check point commanders who allowed such cases to pass through on the side,” I said to him. “There were check point commanders who took bribes”, Assaf answered. (I didn’t ask him if, in his opinion, to allow women with children to pass through in a separate line is on the same moral level as taking a bribe.) A photographer and some reserve soldiers from Ha’Mahane are hanging around there. Photograph the women with children in line, Ivonne said to the (female) photographer. When I see a good picture I take it…not everything is suitable. The army is my employer. But some things, I keep. We met the chief veterinarian of the Palestinian Authority. Because of his work, he needs to travel, since rabies also travels. Since the beginning of the intifada he hasn’t encountered any problems. Since he is very well connected, and can tell the soldieris the names of the soldiers at the Emergency Hotline of the civil administration (the one called “humanitarian”), and suggests that they can call up, he pass through in the end; he spoke to us and about us with warmth, said that they love us. With time, there was some kind of change in the strict atmosphere at the check point, and, here and there, especially one of the soldiers, used common sense (everything is relative, of course). A hemophiliac with a card noting his sickness was at first refused, but, after Ivonne intervened and explained what this illness it, the soldier let him through. At this point, when women with children in their arms arrived from the side, they were generally let through and not sent back to stand in line. A group of about 10 people, men and women of differing ages, all from Hizma, asked to speak with the officer. They are siblings from the same family. That morning, it was “reported” to them that their father is apparently dying, in grave condition in the hospital in Ramallah. Immediately, they left everything, all of them are parents, and went through the check point in the direction of Ramallah and spent the whole day with their father. They had a note from the hospital with their names and ID numbers (which, with their “intelligence of the oppressed” they had prepared there, since they understand the soul of the “occupier”), which witnessed that they had spent the day in the hospital and described the condition of their father. Without even listening, Assaf told them to go back. I approached. In the beginning, I didn’t understand the story correctly. I thought that they were on their way to visit their father, who was dying at that moment. That is what I said to Assaf. “No, they have to stand in line,” he insisted, “And whoever doesn’t have a permit, doesn’t go through”. In response, I said to him that they don’t have time, this is an emergency, humanitarian, he answered that he doesn’t care. Afterward, I understood that I had made a mistake, that they were actually on their way back home, in order to get back to their children, sleep and wash, and run again in the morning to their father in Ramallah, in the hope that he would still be alive. So, I again approached Assaf to explain, since it isn’t possible that, at the very moment someone is told that his father is dying, he is going to visit the Matak first in Beth El, in order to stand in line to get a pass, a line which could take hours or even days, if he succeeds at all. Certainly, he could see that this isn’t at all reasonable. And to that he answered with even more certainty, they aren’t going through without a pass. We called the Emergency Hotline of the civil (“humanitarian”) administration, and Yuval said that they can’t go through without a pass. So what exactly is humanitarian, Ivonne asked a rhetorical question. So, we called the IDF spokesman and told the story, and still tried to think of what to do. Meanwhile, after they had thanked us, in their dispair, they simply stood in line again and when they reached the check, they were lucky enough to chance upon a different soldier, who knew nothing of the previous decisions, and let them through, except for one. A 13 year old boy stood in line, carrying a computer screen. The checker called the commander. Do you know this one? The commander looked from the side, all around, and finally raised the screen in the air and shook it, to make sure there was no bomb in it. And, indeed, it “turned out” that there was no bomb. The boy was allowed to pass. A student of nursing from Jericho, who works in Ramallah, showed an entry permit to Jerusalem, for two days later, in order to take part in a meeting between Jews and Palestinians; the permit was taken from him on the basis of its being a forgery. Netanya succeeded in convincing the soldier to return the permit. At first it was returned, but without his being allowed through the check point; but, after some more work, he was allowed and passed through the check point. All the time we were at Qalandiya, we escorted one man. A man of 36 from the refugee camp of Qalandiya told Tami (who worked with no rest, stopping or discouragement on his case) that, at seven in the morning, when he stood on the road between Qalandiya and Jab’a waiting for a taxi, a jeep stopped next to him, accused him of passing around the check point. He said he hadn’t, and then his ID was taken from him and he was told to come and get it at 2 in Qalandiya, and that it would be in the box. And so it was. He came to Qalandiya at 2. We don’t know exactly what happened before we arrived, but Assaf was involved already. Of course, he didn’t check in the box until Tami insisted, and then he checked but didn’t find it. But it seems that he did contact the jeep and said that the jeep was on its way to return the ID. It got more and more cold; darkness. And he continued to wait. In the same place. In the same position. Only his hands caressing the plastic (which the soldiers call New Jersey) ??Sorry, I don’t understand this image. J.G.?? Every once in a while, Tami ran over to look for Assaf. “I understand…that is the law…I can wait for 2-3 hours”. At 7, 5 hours after he arrived, staying in exactly the same spot without moving, he began to cry. “I have 10 children,” he said, “I have to support them…I must.” And, like magic, at that very moment, a soldier arrived with his ID. Then, we left. (On the way, Ivonne called the Hotline for the Protection of the Individual, in order to tell them that the ID was found. And they told her that, at exactly that moment, the answer got to them from the civil administration, saying that the man should go home and come back tomorrow to try to get it.) Both on Tuesdays vigil and this one, we were told that on Monday and Tuesday mornings, when a lot of people swarm around the check point, in pouring rain, it is closed between 6 and 7. “Why did they close?”, we asked. (A question which has no meaning, of course, in the area of occupation, as though if anything happens that means that it had a reason to explain it). “Why? because it was raining…because they closed…today, for example, they didn’t close, because there was no rain.” Write this! Tell this story! Let people know! color = red>