BEIT IBA, ANABTA, JUBARA, Wednesday 19 May 2004 PMObservers: Tamar Sh., Daphne B. (reporting), film maker guest Yoram S., colour=red> Beit Iba This checkpoint , and everything connected with it, which wreaks such havoc with the lives of the Palestinians and virtually paralyzes all movement [within the occupied territories] is a real abomination. And yet we saw, today, that even within this wretched situation, people can preserve their humanity. We had nothing to do during the whole four hours we spent there!The reservists who were there (mainly young and long-haired), moved the shade awning away from where it had been — and where no one was sheltering under it — right up to the metal detectors, so that it really did provide shade for the waiting crowd; the water installation was working properly and the reservists had arranged the area in such a way that two lines were formed quite naturally. They directed the crowd through the checking stations at a good pace in groups of five at a time so that even during the period of maximum pressure, no one had to wait more than half an hour in line. They spoke pleasantly and respectfully; suddenly we heard “please” and “thank you”; perhaps, to my taste at any rate, there was slightly too much familiarity with the Palestinians — and I say that because the Palestinians have no choice here: they are not in any position to reject the soldiers, on whom they depend — but that is carping criticism compared with the huge improvement that we saw. There were no raised voices at any time. No rude or vulgar expressions in Arabic. Almost no detainees: six at the most and these were released within no more than one-and-a-half hours . Even O., the District Coordinating Office (DCO) representative, was pleasant, although strict about details [the DCO is the branch of the army that deals with civilian matters and usually has representatives at the checkpoints ostensibly to alleviate the lot of the Palestinians]. We see the problem at every shift but can’t do anything about it, especially as far as it concerns the students.AnabtaI won’t repeat everything that’s been written about this “checkpoint” in previous reports. This really is a most irritating phenomenon and it doesn’t even pretend to justify its existence with any semblance of filling a “security” need. While we were there, a military jeep drove up with a roar and out jumped four soldiers, weapons at the ready. I was sure they must be chasing a terrorist. In the distance we saw a Palestinian taxi travelling off at high speed. The soldiers didn’t stand a chance of catching it. But running with weapons at the ready right through the crowd of hundreds of people milling around there certainly endangered everyone: men,women and children alike. It later emerged that the taxi’s “crime” had been tht it over-ran the stop line drawn about 100 m. from the closed gate. 19:00 JubaraOn our way home, we saw six detainees including a boy of about 12. The checkpoint commander, Sergeant A., was quite friendly to us,but very unpleasant towards the Palestinians. The boy had been detained because he had stuck out his tongue. An educational act by the army of education. Onecould see that the boy was problematic, indeed his behaviour bordered on the disturbed.A checkpoint or crossroads kid. We got nowhere with our attempts to persuade A. that heshould let the boy go home; nor were any of our other attempts at intervention any more successful.Among the other detainees, the following were perhaps particularly noteworthy: A young man with an Israeli ID card, who had divorced his Israeli wife and had nowcome back to live in Nur Shams, wanted to go through Anabta after returning from his day’s work inIsrael.Two people, one young and the other older, had presented themselves at the checkpoint equipped with permits, but A. insisted that they were forgeries. We called the army’s “humanitarian” hotline where they checked and got back to us with word that the permits were perfectly valid. They also said that an order had been given to let the two through. Yet nothing happened. Shortly afterwards, a captain appeared at the checkpoint and we took the matter up with him, too. And again, the permits were pronounced valid. According to the captain, A. would release the two men as soon as he had left the checkpoint. So now we’re playing power games……A. also demanded that Yoram surrender the video tape he had used to record our work, claiming that filming was prohibited. Yoram refused and A. told him that he would be detained until the police came to deal with him. At 20:00, only the child had been released. Yoram gave his personal detailsto A. and we decide to leave (equipped with the phone numbers of the detainees for later follow-up), feeling that perhaps our presence was harmful. Repeated calls to the “humanitarian” hotline produced no results at all. At this point, the soldiers announced that there was a “security incident ” taking place and the checkpoint was closed. We weren’t allowed to leave , although we argued that since we were on the Israeli side of the installation, the safest thing we could do was to move off immediately. This was also the view of the army spokesperson’s office when we called them. But A. wouldn’t accept this. Then the police arrived, but didn’t come anywhere near us. A “seam-line” volunteer [one of a number of Israelis, some of reserve duty age, others older, who volunteer for checkpoint service along Israel’s border with the Palestinian Authority] forbade us to approach the policemen who were inside the checkpoint structure, and yet the [Jewish Israeli] settlers, whose road had just been blocked by theclosing of the checkpoint, were hanging around there freely. When I insisted, the volunteer shoved me violently with his rifle.Since the police had left without talking to us, we decided to leave, too.At 21:00 all the detainees, except those with the “forged” documents, were released.Again, we called the “humanitarian” hotline. All the detainees were finally released at 21:30, although we can’t fathom how they could have managed to get home travelling along roads in the occupied territories as late as that. And anyway, what was the point of this whole exercise? In one word: Arbitrariness!