Petah Tikva
Weekly Digest 7.10-13.10.07
Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Tue 16.10.07, Morning
05:45, Bethlehem CP. Passage was quite smooth. By 07:15, all was quiet both sides.
Two men were refused passage, no reasons given. The female soldier at the checking post was quite rude (and was talking on the phone during our whole shift), and would not explain why they were refused. We had the impression, though, that the reason is not indicated on the monitor anyhow, which is typical to the whole situation. Usually we call the IDF Humanitarian Center and they inquire into it. This time, though, the men left before we did.
08:10, Ezyon DCL. About thirty people, many more than we usually see there for many months now.
Until we left at 09:15, fifteen people came out, and all except three, were refused for “security” reasons. Most of them had all the necessary documents (i.e. valid magnetic cards and permits). Also, the soldiers in the DCL refused to indicate on the permits the reasons for the refusal. We had to ask the IDF Humanitarian Center to intervene.
'Anabta, Beit Furik, Shave Shomron, Tue 16.10.07, Morning
On the way to Beit Iba
6:30 – Shavey Shomron
The army is not allowing the Palestinians to pick olives. About 150 men, women and young people, and 7 donkey-carts loaded with bundles of empty sacks, descend (or more properly, are taken down) between the olive trees beside the road at the command of 3 armed soldiers (two officers and a regular conscript). They are among about ten families from Dir Sharaf who went out to harvest olives. To their misfortune, their trees border on the settlement of Shavey Shomron and the army camp nearby. According to the Lieutenant who spoke to us, they did not coordinate the beginning of their harvest well enough with the military, so they are going to have to inspect all of them, including all the rolled up empty sacks. Three Hammers have arrived with reinforcements of a Major and 3 well-armed soldiers. After they arranged them all in a line, the donkey carts at the end, and after they marked with a military shoe a line in the dust by the side of the road, the inspection started. The harvesters provided IDs, and the soldier allowed them to cross over so they could sit and wait until the inspection would be over and they could all together go off to harvest their trees. Zvika Asherman reported that the families had been allotted 3 days to harvest their olives. On the first day, there was no harvesting because the soldiers did not understand their instructions and stopped them from getting to their trees. And now, they have been delayed for at least 2 hours in the morning chill, meaning that they will have to work in the hottest part of the day. The Lieutenant made sure to wave in front of us a document testifying to the fact that we would not be able to accompany the harvesters, since this was a closed military zone. 4 young people from abroad who came to help had to go back where they came from. We saw them later returning to Nablus by way of the Beit Iba checkpoint.
9:30 – Junction of Shavey Shomron is quiet. No trace of this morning's cruelty.
08:00 – Beit Iba
Crowding at the entrance to Nablus. Two hard-hearted female soldiers are checking IDs against a list of numbers. A young man who complained to the soldier was asked to show her his ID, which was then taken from him and he was told to wait in detention. There were about 5 detainees
. When the checkpoint commander arrived he immediately reviewed the reasons for their detention with the soldiers: this one "sneaked by", as did the second; they were on the "wanted list", and one had a blue ID which had to be checked especially well.
By 09:00, the pressure decreased. It seemed that the checkpoint commander was effective. When we returned from Anabta, around 10:00, there were no people waiting. 5 new people in detention, in addition to the owner of the blue ID, and one with handcuffs and a blindfold. According to the checkpoint commander, this was the instruction he had received. Two members of the World Council of Churches who were observing at the checkpoints claimed that torture was taking place here. At least his hands should not be bound. The checkpoint commander refused to speak with them.
09:15 – Anabta
Traffic is fowing, almost no pedestrians. The taxi drivers complain that they are not allowed to stand in the parking area near the junction. According to the soldiers, they can park there, but not next to the checkpoint. Then a Hammer arrives, with an officer of high rank, and he was the one who didn't let them park there. We asked the drivers to give us the number of the Hammer.
Beit Iba, Jit, Qalqiliya, Tue 16.10.07, Afternoon
12:45, Qalqiliya: 3 cars waiting in line to leave the city; one waiting at the entrance.
13:30, Jit: a special roadblock because of terror alerts, the soldiers tell us. But they don't check any of the cars that are passing through...
14:10, Beit Iba: When we arrive we find two detainee; one is there since 10 AM, the other - handcuffed and blindfolded - since 7 AM. The roadblock commander refuses to talk with us. He's busy micro-managing pedestrian passage through the carousels: "two from the right" he shouts to the soldier in the booth who then clicks the operation button twice; then, "three from the left," the commander continues and the soldiers obeys. That's how the officer spends most of his time during the hour and a half we are there. He further perfects the order by having added a new regulation: women for checkups are to form a queue on the left, men on the right.
We call the Humanitarian Center about the detainees. As usual, they promise to check and call us back. After about 30 minutes we still haven't heard from them, so we call again. They tell us that the detainee from 10:00 AM is waiting for a doctor to come and check him before he is taken in for interrogation. It seemed that the Center confused the 2 detainees; the guy is a cab driver currently being punished for having crossed some line that the commander directed cabs not to cross. We ask the Center to check the matter again; again they promise to call us back, and again they don't. Thus we go back and forth... At 17:30 we ring the Center for the last time; we already talked with the cab driver who told us he was released at 16:00 with no doctor arriving or interrogation happening, but at the center they still don't know anything - they still haven't managed to figure out why a man has been forced to waste 6 hours of his day in detention.
At the cars' check point there's a very long wait on the way out from Nablus; 3 hours, a cab driver tells us. All small cars go through extremely thorough and long check up - every bag in the trunk is taken out and investigated. Commercial cars, on the other hand, aren't checked at all.
יום ג' 16.10.07, אחה"צ
Qalqilya
Tuesday 16/10/07, afternoon
Observers: Yael S., Amit Y. (reporter)
12:45, Qalqilia: 3 cars waiting in line to leave the city; one waiting at the entrance.
יום ג' 16.10.07, בוקר
06:15 – the west entry of the terminal: four seamstresses who have already exited the terminal are sitting on the bench and waiting for two more who came with them in the same taxi. They complain about delays of an hour inside the terminal! But in the same breath they say that the terminal opened at 05:30. After quarter of an hour, their colleague comes out with wet eyes. Today is the first time she was ordered to enter the notorious Room Number 2, remove her head scarf, dress and trousers "as if I had something to hide?" Ten minutes later the last one comes out and they rush up the sleeve
to the upper parking lot and on to Bartaa.. N. remembers that four years ago the seamstresses remained to sleep in the sewing shop for two full weeks because they could not get permits to pass every day. From that viewpoint the situation has improved, but in bigger terms – everything is no good.
A farm worker from Kafin says that, with the beginning of the olive picking season, they were promised that the checkpoint at Kafin (Gate 386) would be opened at 06:00 every day for half an hour. But the soldiers opened at 05:00 and closed at 05:30 though there was no one there and it was obvious that a mistake had been made. A phone call to Salem DCO (though DCO Tulkarm is responsible for Kafin) and there they explain that the people are wrong and that the opening hour is five. In the dark? The farmer argues that this is not what was agreed with them. The voice from Salem says that they should fix it with their council. The farm worker tries his luck – perhaps they will let him through at Bartaa. His lands are close to the checkpoint there.
The taxi driver who was beaten by a soldier a few weeks ago now arrives. In response to our "what’s new," he says it’s "okay" as he turns his face away and his body broadcasts "let me be already."
יום ג' 16.10.07, בוקר
Translator: Orna B
Anabta
09:15 -
Traffic - flowing. Hardly any pedestrians. Cab drivers are complaining that they are now allowed to park in the parking bay next to the junction. According to the soldiers they are allowed to park there, but not next to the road block. It turns out that a Hummer arrived with a high ranking Hummer officer, and he is the one preventing them from parking there. The cab drivers are requested to pass the Hammer's number plate to us.
יום ג' 16.10.07, אחה"צ
15:50, Anabta: As we arrive soldiers are changing guards, so the traffic is temporarily stopped. There are 15 cars waiting at the exit from Tul Karem. But the new shift quickly organizes itself, and they wave the cars through freely. Within a few minutes no cars are waiting. There are no special restrictions today, and the order is only to sample check the cars.
16:40, Jbara: At the children's gate soldiers assign numbers to those entering the village; when they leave, they are expected to report their number so that the soldiers can cross them off the list of visitors they have complied in their notebook. The soldiers complain of the old man who is no waiting to leave; he entered in the morning, and by now he doesn't remember his number.
16:50, Aras: Here also no special restrictions and only sample checkups. Traffic flows relatively easily today.
Tulkarem and Qalqiliya, Tue 16.10.07, Afternoon
Tul Karem Roadblocks
Anabta: 15:50
As we arrive soldiers are changing guards, so the traffic is temporarily stopped. There are 15 cars waiting at the exit from Tul Karem. But the new shift quickly organizes itself, and they wave the cars through freely. Within a few minutes no cars are waiting. There are no special restrictions today, and the order is only to sample check the cars.
Jubara: 16:40
At the children’s gate soldiers assign numbers to those entering the village; when they leave, they are expected to report their number so that the soldiers can cross them off the list of visitors they have complied in their notebook. The soldiers complain of the old man who is no waiting to leave; he entered in the morning, and by now he doesn’t remember his number.
Aras: 16:50
Here also no special restrictions and only sample checkups. Traffic flows relatively easily today.