Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Sun 7.10.07, Afternoon
Etzyon DCL, Gilo Terminal
We decided to start our shift earlier and arrive at the DCL before 2 pm, since we noticed that by 4 pm the place was empty.
In the parking lot there were approximately 30 cars, some with Israeli license plates.
Inside the spacious waiting room there was one person.
Outside were 5 Palestinians who were asked to refresh their biometric identification by giving finger prints at the DCL. Three of the Palestinians were employed by an Israeli. After refreshing their identification, they asked for their entry permits. Lieutenant Tedsa answered that he did not pass such information to Palestinians and that their employer had to take care of them. The DCL does not deal with entry permits; only Linda from the employment office dealt with entry permits and she does not see Palestinians - only Israeli employers.
Linda's office is open until 1 pm. She does not handle cases after that hour. I spoke to the Israeli employer and he said that he'd been trying to reach Linda all morning, but she did not answer his calls. She did not answer ours either.
As a last resort I suggest he called the DCL offices, but I did not have the phone number of Itzik Levi, the person in charge of civilian employment, since employment permits are a totally different department in the IDF's civilian administration. We called the civilian administration representative at Beit-El who was especially nice, and despite the fact that it was not his job to check the Palestinian's ID numbers, he checked the computer and found that the employment branch had still not issued permits to these workers.
“First there was a curfew, now it's Ramadan, next week there are three days of holidays - when are we going to work? How will we support our families?”
People came out of the DCL with magnetic cards. They did not tell us how many people where inside, how many got cards and how hectic or not was the situation inside.
A permit for churches that was not issued was sent to Sezer - the liaison for church employees at the Ministry of Interior.
Rachel Crossing: We arrived 5 minutes before large groups of workers returned from a hard day of work to their homes. Because of Ramadan they arrive at 3 pm instead of 4 pm.
Three checking booths were open and the place looked very calm.
The first group of workers arrived around 3 pm. Two minutes later two more groups arrived, and half a minute later, yet another group. Each group had 10-15 people. At 3:10 pm there are already hundreds of people. One checking booth is abandoned and only two are left open. We phone Roni, who immediately arrives and opens two more checking booths. The Palestinians move like on a conveyer belt: they place their permit against the window, offer their magnetic card and put their hand in the scanner while the soldier examines their magnetic card. If all goes well the Palestinian can pass and go home, and the next Palestinian approaches…The entire process takes about 20 seconds.
Roni arrived with a police officer who stayed until most of the people got through and with another officer.
Approximately 3,000 Palestinians go through the Rachel crossing every day. According to our estimate, about 2,000 of these pass during rush hour. All it takes is for a computer in one of the checking booths to break down in order to cause a delay. Today a computer crash was fixed quickly and the fourth booth was reopened.
The border policeman in charge of order in the terminal directs the traffic of people. He sends in groups of 60-80 people at a time and no more. A new group is sent in every 5-8 minutes.
Around 3:30 pm a border policeman enters the hall with two armed men from a private security firm who came to learn the trade… Their guide showed them how to talk to the Palestinians: “You go there!” he commands a Palestinians and directs him towards checking booth number two. The two security guards, who could easily fit in some Hollywood action movie, do not respond. They are learning the ropes…
At 3:50 pm the number of people drops substantially and we decide to end our shift.
Beit Iba, Sun 7.10.07, Afternoon
15:00 Beit Iba
There is much commotion and noise at the entrance, the traffic is backed up to the Hawash Bros, there are trucks and taxis and a lot of honking, pedestrians are trying to make their way through the vehicles to safety.
As we arrive at the vehicle CP we see the soldiers checking the IDs of vehicles coming out of Nablus, the check is slow.
Approaching the CP we notice the new addition of cement filled floor from the new structure to the existing booth.
The crowd of people was terrific, and was like this the entire time we were there. There were at most times between 5 – 7 soldiers, but they were not working efficiently and not in a pleasant manner, they were shouting and motioning with their hands in their belittling fashion.
As bad as we think it is today, a well dress man comes up to us to tell us today is far better than yesterday (Shabbat) he said that in his opinion, Saturdays and Wednesdays are the worse days. He said that yesterday the soldiers were “arrogant, cruel and brutal”.
There are 5-7 soldiers at vehicle CP but they are working very slowly, a lot of chit chatting between themselves. Although the vehicle lines are down and there are few vehicles waiting.
Qalqiliya, Shave Shomron, Sun 7.10.07, Afternoon
Qalquilya 13:30
As we arrive at the checkpoint there are 17 vehicles waiting to enter Qalquilya and 1 vehicle on the other side coming out. The soldiers are working efficiently and the traffic moves rapidly, but there is always a line to go in.
Across from Jit we notice that the doors of the building where they process the olive oil is open, looks like they are preparing for the harvest, and just a bit farther before the junction we see women in the field picking the olives. Later when we speak to Jamal, he says they will be starting just after Ramadan, but that some have already started the harvest.
Jit Junction
No soldiers, no vehicles only concrete dividers at the intersection
Shavei Shomron 13:30
We checked out to see if there was anything new behind the wall, but the same, the lonely trees still standing, the wire fence is wired up with electricity as well as the top of the wall. And the barrier is closed at the top of the road to the road to Jenin.
Deir Sharaf 13:40
We stop to say hello to Jamal, it is very quiet, and his market looks more barren, less products on the shelves. Jamal says business is quiet; he seems to look forward to the olive harvest coming up after Ramadan.
Reihan, Shaked, Sat 6.10.07, Morning
Reihan CP 08:10- 09:30
'. He told us that a short while ago, the Inspectors broke a tv set that was being transported by the doctor who comes to Barta'a every Saturday. We approached the place where the vehicles were being inspected, but the civilians responsible for the inspection did not allow us to go up to the doctor and to talk to him. They claimed that everything was fine and nothing had been broken. Judging by the number of civilian inspectors and by the fact that the doctor was still at the CP; it seems to us that the story was based on fact. Again there are the questions: Who is responsible here? and who is in charge of the CP? To whom can we turn with a question, or a complaint, or to ask for an explanation? As we have already written several times (as have other shifts and the 'Haaretz' reporter), turning the CPs over to civilians is highly problematic.
We wrote down the personal data of an adult who had problems with attaining an agricultural permit for the olive-picking in his grove.
Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Sat 6.10.07, Morning
Translation: Suzanne O.
Za'atra
We arrived at 7:10 a.m. and found 48 cars waiting in the queue. At the bottom of the hill a jeep was parked and beside it an officer with the rank of lieutenant and two soldiers who were mainly occupied with directing the traffic. The officer was a reservist and our appearance in the area shocked him; he attempted to explain to us how dangerous the place is.
We ascended the hill and saw that the cars were not inspected on any of the three sides of the roadblock and the traffic was flowing. We left a little before 8:00 a.m.
Huwwara
The ‘flock' is the nickname given by the soldiers to those standing in the various queues. Is this another innovation in the discussions on reconciliation? Or is it just an expression of the IDF's view of the Palestinians- chickens.
The queue at the entrance to Nablus reaches the car park and many, many people are crowded in there. Since there is no inspection at the entrance to Nablus what is the purpose of the turnstile?
After we approach the roadblock commander people are told to cross on the road and the crowding abated.
The queues of cars in both direction flowed - the crossing to Nablus did not take more than seconds and the exit from Nablus, in spite of the presence of the dog handler, took about ten minutes.
The dog and its owner enjoyed a rest and a game with the soldiers and were not required to do anything during the time we were there.
It took young people about an hour to cross and about ten minutes via the ‘humanitarian' crossing.
Detainees: on our arrival we found a detainee in the lock-up who ‘had been disrespectful and cursed a soldier' who was speedily joined by another man. These two had just been released (within less than half an hour) then, one after another, three others were added. They were all released within minutes and their documents returned. One of the detainees took the time to check whether the document returned to him was actually his - what luck because otherwise another unending ‘quest' would have been undertaken.
The DCO: there was no DCO representative at the roadblock - or if there was he was invisible to us. We phoned Huwwara DCO, but the soldier refused to give us the name of the representative who was absent from the roadblocks, "because later you will complain and I'll get into trouble". Reading between the lines of the conversation it seemed to us that this was one of the soldiers we complained about after the night of the atrocity this week.
Summary: Huwwara roadblock ‘ran smoothly' today, the soldiers behaved satisfactorily, the commanders listened to our requests - everything appeared to be ‘satisfactory'. It is hard to describe in words the rage and humiliation of the hundreds of thousands crossing every day, and this is not the only roadblock that they are forced to cross in the Palestinian territories. The sight of people undressing and dressing publicly - men in front of young women - the scornful behaviour of the soldiers, the smoking and eating in the presence of those fasting in these days of Ramadan, the never ending standing in queues, the fear that you will not be able to cross - all of this recurs and reveals itself to us on a daily basis as we stand at the various roadblocks, and we are unable to do anything about it.
We left at 11:30 a.m.
Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Fri 5.10.07, Morning
Translation: Suzanne O.
Za'atra Junction
8:45 a.m.
From the north there is a queue of 12 cars. Only one checkpoint is staffed. We ask why only one checkpoint is functioning and the soldier promises that they are about to open a second one.
9:15 a.m.
The roadblock commander, A., opened a second checkpoint and the queue is quickly reduced.
A Palestinian man, who is evidently troubled, comes up and presents his story to us: he is a resident of a village close to Tulkarm. He is taking, so he says, psychiatric drugs. He has no I.D. card or any other documents and he doesn't even know his I.D. number.
He arrived thus, without any documentation, this morning, by cab, at Za'atra roadblock, having already managed to cross two roadblocks: Anav and another roadblock he can't pronounce. He wants to go to Ramallah. His brother works in Ramallah. The soldiers at the roadblock refuse to let him cross and order him to go back to where he came from. The young man insists on waiting at the roadblock until he crosses, even if they call the police. It is clear that the man is not mentally fit.
We ask if we can sort the issue out with the roadblock commander who immediately threatens to stop work, and not to let anyone through until we move away and give him ‘working space'. We move to where we are permitted, where we can still hear the military policewoman, who is particularly crude, has a particularly small vocabulary, with particularly violent body language, shouting about the young man: "He thinks he can do as he pleases... thinks he has the authority... he hasn't got anything".
The officer explains to the young man that, as he has no documentation, he cannot cross. The young man is unable to listen and interrupts him with a stream of stammering mumbling which annoys the officer. The officer says, maybe to the young man, maybe to us, "I'll come back in ten minutes so that he can calm down".
Later the officer tells us that he works with the Operations Room at the Brigade, not with the DCO, and the young man hasn't got a permit to cross. The police have been called.
9:30 a.m.
There are no cars and only one checkpoint is left open.
We contact the DCO and ask for a representative to come and sort the problem out. After a while we call again and are told that a DCO representative is on his way to the roadblock. And indeed he arrives. After shaking hands he talks to the soldiers. A military policeman, with a dismissive gesture, signals us to ‘get away from here'. We approach the representative to inform him of the details we have, such as the telephone number of the man's brother with whom we have talked a number of times, and even the brother's I.D. number - in the hope that this will help to locate the man's details. The DCO officer promises to talk to us later.
The young Palestinian man does not stop talking and interrupting the soldiers' conversation while he tries again and again to repeat his story.
The soldiers lose their patience (which was limited from the start) and shouting starts. The military policeman confronts the young man physically and shouts at him "You will not cross". The crude military policewoman (her name is possibly Sivan) attacks the young man, whose mental condition is obvious and it is not necessary to work in a mental institution to see it, with provocative physical gestures and says: "What do I care... shut your mouth... come over here and we'll show you". It sounds and looks like a drunken brawl in a bar.
Orit tries to calm the situation and says that the young man is sick and unable to control himself. Orit approaches the military policewoman and gives her a gentle touch on the shoulder, and she pounces on Orit as if she has been bitten by a snake: "Don't touch me... don't you dare touch me again..." and she swings her hand in Orit's direction at the same time.
The officer, enraged by all the noise says to us: "You are not helping me, move fifty metres away from here". A second exclusion and we are really not near the roadblock and they are the ones who have moved over to where we are watching what is going on.
We refuse to move away.
The officer, A., physically drags away the military policewoman who has lost control of herself and who demonstrates the problem of young soldiers who use aggressiveness which they mistake for authority. I regret to say that the military policewoman does not even have the vocabulary to express herself with, not to mention any Arabic obviously.
The military policeman, who a minute ago was angry and shouted at the Palestinian, suddenly laughs perhaps at him, perhaps at us. The situation is very confusing for the young man who is very confused anyway.
The officer again threatens collective punishment by stopping the work of the roadblock if we don't move another 20 metres away.
The Health Coordination Centre rejects us completely - they don't intervene in such cases.
The DCO officer finds time to talk to us. According to him the I.D. number and the name of the brother are not relevant. He gives us a speech on how: "Every Palestinian knows that an I.D. card is necessary and that he cannot cross without one... every Palestinian knows his own and his mother's". When we stress to him that the young man is obviously not mentally stable, and that he has already crossed two roadblocks without a permit, he replies: "In his condition, above all, he should not be wandering about. He may suddenly want to cross into Israel. Only with his I.D. number, and his mother's or his wife's can we sort this out. The police will arrest him and check it out".
We, not the soldiers or the DCO officer, heaven forbid, check it out. We contact the brother and request their late mother's I.D. number.
The brother manages to pass the young man's I.D. number to us. We pass it to the DCO officer. The officer, A., and also the military policeman ask us for the details and even want to know how we got them. Suddenly we are not interfering with their work.
The DCO officer informs us that according to the investigation the young man has been ‘prevented' by the Shabak and has even been in prison and the police, who have been called, will deal with his case. From now the young man who refused to obey the soldiers and retrace his tracks has become a detainee. As we know there is no detention hut at the roadblock and he is ordered to sit at the side of the pavement, in the sun, and wait. The young man has already been in the sun for hours. Thirsty, hungry (the soldiers eat, together, in the DCO car) he needs the toilet. Ofra brings him water.
One of the soldiers ‘relaxes' with the troubled young man: "Come here... where are you going... what's wrong with it here", and then tries to define the limits for him, he signs with his hands in the air the boundaries and orders him: "Stay here... sit".
There are no cars at the roadblock.
10:30 a.m.
The police have still not arrived. The young man wanders around. We continue on to Huwwara.
In Huwwara town, at the side of the road, a Border Police car is parked.
The Yitzhar Junction roadblocks, in both directions, are not staffed.
Huwwara roadblock
10:40 a.m. .
One checkpoint is staffed. There is almost no one coming or going. Even the coffee vendor and his son are not there. Apparently the soldiers have managed to enforce the Israeli law.
11:00 a.m.
We return to Za'atra Junction. The young man is still there. The police have still not come. He comes to talk to us, an action that alerts a soldier who barks at him: "I told you, sit!"
I go over to the soldier and tell him that the young man has been in the sun for hours already, he is thirsty and hungry and perhaps he can be allowed to sit in the shade somewhere. The soldier replies that the only shade is under the watchtower and he is not permitted to sit there. I suggest the hitchhikers' station by the roadblock and the soldier regards me as if I am joking: "...that's for Jews". How sad. He agrees with me that it is not good.
Ofra goes to the Officer, A., who says that if the police do not arrive within half an hour they will release the young man into Nablus. The young man is now ready, after hours, to go back but he is not allowed to.u We decide to wait. At 11:30 a.m. the young man asks if he can go, the officer abuses him and states: "Half an hour from when I told you not her (Ofra)", i.e.: he has to wait until 12:00 p.m.
Due to our constraints we leave the roadblock.
1:45 p.m.
We contact the DCO to find out if the young man has been released. Ellen informs us that he was indeed permitted to go.
Abu Dis, Sheikh Saed, Fri 5.10.07, Morning
Friday, fourth in the month of Ramadan.
Sheikh Saed:
09:00 - The place keeps changing shape. Work on infrastructure has begun. The generator and fuel container have been moved to the eastern side of the CP. Red plastic pipes protrude from holes in the ground. Later we were told that a crossing similar to the other crossings in Jerusalem is planned, but much smaller of course. Judging by develpments and by what the residents say, the Supreme Court has accepted the IDF's appeal, and the separation obstacle will be installed (Does anyone have concrete information about the decision? We were unable to find any in our searches.)
A., the CP commander, approaches us to explain that today we will not be able to cross into Sheikh Saed. He requests that we remain on the side near the exit. According to him, entry into Sheikh Saed will endanger us and the soldiers, and will interfere with their work. There are 5 security personnel at the CP, among them 2 guards and a soldier in the tower.
During this time some 10 men await at the curve beyond the CP, apparently too young to meet the criteria required today to cross for prayer. Others, older or equipped with the necessary permits, cross.
This week too, a number of officers on patrol arrive, including S. and U. and another officer probably in the process of overlapping. They say they cannot overrule A.'s decision to prevent us from crossing. At 09:15 they leave.
Traffic at the CP gradually increases. A group of young women is waiting in the shade beyond the CP.
We call P.C., the battalion commander, about our removal from the residents. He says he will check the matter.
10:10 - some 10 mins. after our conversation with P., A. announces he will let us cross, but asks us to stand next to a Mitsubishi parked some 20 metres down the road, or near the vehicle parked uphill.
Residents tell us that next Friday may be Id El-Fitr, i.e. the holiday might begin on Friday or Saturday, depending on the moon. In that case, today would be the last Friday of Ramadan, which is why some of the residents are desperate to get to prayers. Some have not been to Al-Aqsa at all this Ramadan, others only once.
U. returns for a short patrol inside Sheikh Saed. Two soldiers newly arrived, circle on the road west of the CP.
10:45 - The line lengthens, some 40 residents wait in the area. A group of adult men but evidently too young to cross today waits on the road. One of them says he may cross, but will not do so - his act of resistance for today. Others, mainly young, continue to wait in the hope that towards prayer-time something might change after all. A group of young women tries again and again to approach A., one woman at a time.
11:00 - We left.
Abu Dis:
11:20 - On the right, facing east, a car is parked. A detained man sits on a concrete block next to a soldier who is filling out forms. The soldiers say he is a Palestinian resident of the occupied territories, driving the car of his wife who is a resident of East Jerusalem. They say they are not making out a ticket, only detaining him until his wife arrives to collect the vehicle, and explaining that according to the law those who are not Israeli citizens are not permitted to drive an Israeli vehicle. Actually, they recall that there are tourists with international driving licenses who are allowed to drive in Israel - but Palestinians of course are not tourists. Within a few minutes the wife arrives along with two daughters, and the family leaves in the car.
An army jeep is parked next to the CP, and a few minutes later another vehicle arrives with lunch for the 7 soldiers there.
An elderly man wishes to cross. He is not on the list and the soldiers tell him he must cross at the Zeitim CP. We inquire why this is necessary - clearly he is elderly, not in good health, and would have been allowed to cross at Zeitim CP. According to the soldiers' logic, he should have set off earlier, the insufficient time left to reach prayers is not their concern.
Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal), Fri 5.10.07, Morning
Fourth Friday of Ramadan
08:00 - The roads leading from Highway 1 to East Jerusalem are blocked more extensively than last Friday, from Nablus Gate to Border Police headquarters. A traffic jam from the American Colony Hotel in the direction of Nablus Gate can be observed from a distance.
08:10 - No check point at the entrance to Al Ezariya. On the way to the Palestinian side of the CP, opposite us, are the empty cabs and transits which brought people to the CP.
Zeitim CP:
08:20-12:00 - (Palestinian side) - Already before the parking lot, access to the CP is blocked by two BP jeeps and a row of 5 border policemen blocking the space between the two jeeps. Some 60 persons, women and elderly men wishing to cross, are crowded in front of them. There is a constant flow of persons allowed to cross - they are the lucky ones who meet the "criteria" announced from time to time in a loud voice or by megaphone: men over 50, women over 45. Others are turned back because they are too young.
Persons with work permits or trade permits are particularly angry because they are not allowed to cross due to the extension of the Succot closure until the end of the sabbath - evidently not announced on Palestinian media.
More people keep arriving, some of those turned back still waiting in case the rules change. Until 09:45 there is a constant presence of some 60 persons in front of the road block. Most of the border policemen speak Arabic.
08:45 - the row of border policemen is disbanded, 2-3 of them stand at the opening checking documents. At some stage the soldiers are stressed by the numbers in the crowd, and they send the people back some 20-30 meters. Only a group of women continues to stand near the jeeps. From time to time the crossing is interrupted for a short while, probably to prevent long lines inside the CP. The DCO representative is now discovered, he too speaks Arabic, but he can't be of much assistance - let them go to Olmert - and advises those refused passage to go home. Some indeed give up and leave, others sit alongside the road.
09:25 - the soldiers again form a row between the jeeps, one of which starts the engine, probably for the A/C, and those surrounding it fear it will move in their direction, but the vehicle remains stationery.
09:30 - the stream of persons arriving increases and by 09:50 more than 100 persons stand in front of the road block. Now it's mostly men in their 40's hoping nonetheless to cross. A jeep brings grapes and other fruit for the soldiers. These are distributed, but the soldiers don't eat in view of the people fasting. One of the jeeps leaves, and now the soldiers must invigilate a wider opening lest someone without a permit sneak through.
A man of roughly 47 with a work permit who had tried unsuccessfully to cross earlier, tries again and crosses.
10:15 - a jeep arrives with another officer. A defeaning siren and calls on the megaphone to the women who have already crossed ("yallah yawara" "don't let those without permits cross") and now the border policemen checking documents also begin to shout "yallah haram" and push people back a few meters. The officer just arrived considers it his main duty to distance those too young to cross and to slow down passage of those who fulfill the age criteria ("one by one, only over 50 or those with a permit") - all this when the pressure is at its height and prayer-time is approaching. At this stage there are over 120 people facing the row of 5 border-policemen. 4-5 men, exhausted from the heat and the waiting, are sitting in the shade from a lorry, one of them already asleep.
Every few minutes the people are pushed further back, here and there one of the border policemen using his hands. No one resists, not a single cry of protest. Quietly and slowly they approach again, and are again rebuffed.
Part of the crossing is again blocked by another jeep. When people fail to approach one by one in an orderly fashion, the officer stops the crossing. "Closure, everyone 'irja lawara', stop, no one crosses until all are below." An elderly woman supported by a young one is stopped; she is allowed to cross, but not her companion, without whom she cannot walk. Eventually another woman who has just crossed and is willing to accompany the old lady is found. The young woman turns back.
Again and again the officer shouts: "Any one over 50 Let him cross" (as though they had won the lottery). "You're 50? No? then down! You're 49? come back next year. Those not 50 - move it! How old are you? Yallah, come here [pointing to a spot at his feet]." And so on and so forth. Suddenly a man with a child, riding a camel turns up; he doesn't look 50 but makes his way through the crowd, presents his green ID confidently, the camel doesn't need a permit, and they cross.
10:45 - a gun shot is heard, not clear from where, and there's a smell of something burnt. "Who is this hero?" one of the officers asks.
A woman with two small children is unwilling to give up, continues arguing, but the soldier is not willing to give up either. A man wearing ritual garments must empty the contents of his bag on the floor. No one else arrives with a bag. A woman with a veil has to remove her gloves, not her veil. Not clear how this contributes to identification, but she was sent back. The officer wishes to get rid of those without permits and announces the familiar threat: "so far we have been courteous..." He also dismisses those who were resting in the shade of the lorry, waving his hand in a gesture of "get lost" and once in a while placing a hand on a shoulder. The hill next to the road-block is now empty, and those on the road are also sent back. Some give up and go home. Drivers call out "Ezariya, Abu-Dis", but the crowd calls back "Al Aqsa."
11:15 - a few minutes before the beginning of prayers, people begin to leave. By 11:20 some 80 remain, at 11:25 some 60, mostly young women. At 11:30 they are sent back with calls of "Ramadan karim, haram." A little girl, no taller than the soldier's knees, stares at his gun fearfully. One of the soldiers attempts to persuade the women to leave, some give up with disappointed looks, about 25 remain. At 11:40 some elederly women are still allowed to cross, and at 11:45 closure is declared, no one will cross. What this means is that in the morning hours "leniency" was practised and elderly people were allowed to cross despite closure, but now the regular closure conditions are in effect.
Those not considered security risks until 11:40 have now de facto become such. The last few who managed to pass the soldiers' block but failed to reach the CP by 11:45 are turned back. The soldiers retreat into the CP. The women remain, slowly approaching the CP. but the soldiers no longer care: let 25 women stand in front of the locked turnstiles for as long as they wish!
Al-Ezaria - the streets are empty. Many cars are parked near the mosque, worshippers who were unable to enter stand in long lines on the pavement.
Huwwara, Za'tara (Tapuah), Fri 5.10.07, Morning
Translation: Suzanne O.
Za'tara (Tapuah). 08:45 From the north there is a queue of 12 cars. Only one checkpoint is staffed. We ask why only one checkpoint is functioning and the soldier promises that they are about to open a second one.
09:15. The roadblock commander, A., opened a second checkpoint and the queue is quickly reduced.
A Palestinian man, who is evidently troubled, comes up and presents his story to us: he is a resident of a village close to Tulkarm. He is taking, so he says, psychiatric drugs. He has no I.D. card or any other documents and he doesn't even know his I.D. number.
He arrived without any documentation, this morning, by cab, at Za'atra roadblock, having already managed to cross two roadblocks: Anav and another roadblock he can't pronounce. He wants to go to Ramallah. His brother works in Ramallah. The soldiers at the roadblock refuse to let him cross and order him to go back to where he came from. The young man insists on waiting at the roadblock until he crosses, even if they call the police. It is clear that the man is not mentally stable.
We ask if we can sort the issue out with the roadblock commander who immediately threatens to stop work, and not to let anyone through until we move away and give him "working space". We move to where we are permitted, where we can still hear the military policewoman, who is particularly crude, has a particularly small vocabulary, with particularly violent body language, shouting about the young man: "He thinks he can do as he pleases... thinks he has the authority... he hasn't got anything".
The officer explains to the young man that, as he has no documentation, he cannot cross. The young man is unable to listen and interrupts him with a stream of stammering and mumbling which annoys the officer. The officer says, maybe to the young man, maybe to us, "I'll come back in ten minutes so that he can calm down".
Later the officer tells us that he works with the Operations Room at the Brigade, not with the DCO, and the young man hasn't got a permit to cross. The police have been called.
09:30 . There are no cars and only one checkpoint is left open.
We contact the DCO and ask for a representative to come and sort the problem out. After a while we call again and are told that a DCO representative is on his way to the roadblock. And indeed he arrives. After shaking hands he talks to the soldiers. A military policeman, with a dismissive gesture, signals us to "get away from here". We approach the representative to inform him of the details we have, such as the telephone number of the man's brother with whom we have talked a number of times, and even the brother's I.D. number - in the hope that this will help to locate the man's details. The DCO officer promises to talk to us later. The young Palestinian man does not stop talking and interrupting the soldiers' conversation while he tries again and again to repeat his story.
The soldiers lose their patience (which was limited from the start) and shouting starts. The military policeman confronts the young man physically and shouts at him "You will not cross". The crude military policewoman (her name is possibly Sivan) attacks the young man, whose mental condition is obvious and it is not necessary to work in a mental institution to see it, with provocative physical gestures and says: "What do I care... shut your mouth... come over here and we'll show you". It sounds and looks like a drunken brawl in a bar.
Orit tries to calm the situation and says that the young man is sick and unable to control himself. Orit approaches the military policewoman and gives her a gentle touch on the shoulder, and she pounces on Orit as if she has been bitten by a snake: "Don't touch me... don't you dare touch me again..." and she swings her hand in Orit's direction at the same time.
The officer, enraged by all the noise says to us: "You are not helping me, move fifty metres away from here". A second exclusion and we are really not near the roadblock and they are the ones who have moved over to where we are watching what is going on.
We refuse to move away.
The officer, A., physically drags away the military policewoman who has lost control of herself and who demonstrates the problem of young soldiers who use aggressiveness which they mistake for authority. I regret to say that the military policewoman does not even have the vocabulary to express herself with, not to mention any Arabic .
The military policeman, who a minute ago was angry and shouted at the Palestinian, suddenly laughs perhaps at him, perhaps at us. The situation is very confusing for the young man who is very confused anyway.
The officer again threatens collective punishment by stopping the work of the roadblock if we don't move another 20 metres away.
The Health Coordination Centre rejects us completely - they don't intervene in such cases.
The DCO officer finds time to talk to us. According to him the I.D. number and the name of the brother are not relevant. He gives us a speech on how: "Every Palestinian knows that an I.D. card is necessary and that he cannot cross without one... every Palestinian knows his own and his mother's". When we stress to him that the young man is obviously not mentally stable, and that he has already crossed two roadblocks without a permit, he replies: "In his condition, above all, he should not be wandering about. He may suddenly want to cross into Israel. Only with his I.D. number, and his mother's or his wife's can we sort this out. The police will arrest him and check it out".
We, not the soldiers or the DCO officer, heaven forbid, check it out. We contact the brother and request their late mother's I.D. number.
The brother manages to transfer pass the young man's I.D. number to us. We pass it to the DCO officer. The officer, A., and also the military policeman ask us for the details and even want to know how we got them. Suddenly we are not interfering with their work.
The DCO officer informs us that according to the investigation the young man has been "prevented" by the Shabak and has even been in prison and the police, who have been called, will deal with his case. Now the young man who refused to obey the soldiers and retrace his tracks has become a detainee. As we know there is no detention hut at the roadblock and he is ordered to sit at the side of the pavement, in the sun, and wait. The young man has already been in the sun for hours. Thirsty, hungry (the soldiers eat, together, in the DCO car) he needs the toilet. Ofra brings him water.
One of the soldiers "relaxes" with the troubled young man: "Come here... where are you going... what's wrong with here", and then tries to define the limits for him, he signs with his hands in the air the boundaries and orders him: "Stay here... sit".
There are no cars at the roadblock.
10:30. The police have still not arrived. The young man wanders around. We continue on to Huwwara.
In Huwwara town, at the side of the road, a Border Police car is parked.
The Yitzhar Junction roadblocks, in both directions, are not staffed.
Huwwara roadblock 10:40 .
One checkpoint is staffed. There is almost no one coming or going. Even the coffee vendor and his son are not there. Apparently the soldiers have managed to enforce the Israeli law.
11:00. We return to Za'atra Junction. The young man is still there. The police have still not come. He comes to talk to us, an action that alerts a soldier who barks at him: "I told you, sit!"
I go over to the soldier and tell him that the young man has been in the sun for hours already, he is thirsty and hungry and perhaps he can be allowed to sit in the shade somewhere. The soldier replies that the only shade is under the watchtower and he is not permitted to sit there. I suggest the hitchhikers' station by the roadblock and the soldier regards me as if I am joking: "...that's for Jews". How sad. He agrees with me that it is not good.
Ofra goes to the Officer, A., who says that if the police do not arrive within half an hour they will release the young man into Nablus. The young man is now ready, after hours, to go back but he is not allowed to. We decide to wait. At 11:30 the young man asks if he can go, the officer abuses him and states: "Half an hour from when I told you not her (Ofra)", i.e., he has to wait until 12:00 p.m.
Due to our constraints we leave the roadblock.
13:45. We contact the DCO to find out if the young man has been released. Ellen informs us that he was indeed permitted to go.
'Anabta, Ar-Ras, Jubara (Kafriat), Thu 4.10.07, Morning
Ar-Ras
7:00 – a bus enters Jubara freely to drive children to school.
Traffic is sparse. An old man with a walking cane, the one who regularly tries to enter Jubara but has no permit, is sent back.
Anabta
7:30 – we were received by a courteous sergeant, who was willing to speak with us. Then it turned out that he is new and never heard of Machsom Watch. We began to explain, and a discussion evolved about the checkpoints. One soldier who was standing at a different post and refused to return our "hello" earlier, now joined the conversation.