afternoon

Share:
Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email
Observers: 
Ronni H.,Dvorah G.
Jan-6-2004
|
Afternoon

A-RAM AND QALANDIYA, TUESDAY AFTERNOON, 6 JANUARY, ‏200415:15 to 18:15Observers: Ronni H. and Dvorah G. A relatively quiet watch, yet one marked by petty and insensitive behaviour , and an all too easy disregard for the law as it affects the rights of Palestinians.Traffic going through A=RAM was slowed down as cars were pulled over in a seemingly random fashion, but we saw no one being detained there. A long line of pedestrians moved through the checkpoint in the direction of Jerusalem, but it all seemed quiet. Throughout our watch at Qalandiya itself, there was an endless flow of pedestrians. The lines moved quickly and quietly, but remained always long in this holiday week. The same was true of the line of cars and lorries, but here, with only one lane in each direction, progress was much slower. J., a resident of the occupied territories of about 30, asked our help as we made our way through the southern end of the Qalandiya checkpoint. He had tried to circumvent the northern checkpoint in the morning and had been caught in Tora Bora at 8 o'clock. His ID had been confiscated and he had made repeated visits to the soldiers at northern checkpoint who denied all knowledge of his documents. We took his details and immediately found Uriel, the duty commander, who confirmed that J. had already "bothered us" several times. He checked again. The ID was nowhere to be seen. Faris at the DCO was only too happy to shrug off all responsibility and tell us that Sefi, from his office, happened to be right there are the checkpoint and we should take the problem to him. But once Segen Sefi was found, we were in for another surprise. "Hunting" illegals in Tora Bora quarry is no longer the business of the soldiers manning the checkpoint and he has no way of finding out who took J.'s ID. RH reminds him that confiscating and ID is illegal. He agrees.But he justifies the confiscation: J.,too,had acted illegally. And, in a wonderful piece of occupation logic, there comes the clinching sally: "Besides, what else can the boys do? If they give him back his ID, he'll simply try the same trick again!" He had "never heard that before" when we pointed out that J. would now have to pay about NIS400 and wait for perhaps a month (with no chance of obtaining a permit to pass into Israel proper) before the Palestinian Authority issued him with a new ID. Ronni complains to the Civilian Authority's Humanitarian Office and is later told by Yuval that there is nothing more he can do to find the soldier who confiscated the ID. In his opinion, J. will probably have to file a complaint with the police for some redress. Another Palestinian asks our help: he works for the Health Work Committees which run over 30 clinics throughout the West Bank where the charges for medical attention and medicines are minimal or non-existent. He has an orange ID and an employee's card, with a photo. He should be at A-Ram to start work at 17:00. The soldiers have refused him permission to pass. And, Uriel included, agree with glee: "The card's a forgery! The so-called official stamp has been scanned on to it." And the usual rubric: "Tell him to go through Surda!" (Have these young military police unit soldiers any idea where Surda is, or why anyone should travel that way. What would they say if they were told to go through Ashkelon in order to get from Jerusalem to Ramle?) Uriel finally agrees to take the man's ID and run a check on it to see if he is justified in letting him through on the grounds that he is engaged in humanitarian work. There follows a freezing cold one-and-three-quarter- hour wait before clearance finally comes and the man is on his way, "only " likely to be over an hour late for work. Throughout, he behaved with a quiet dignity and refusal to complain that shamed us, his only reproach was that "I have a completely clean record, thank God!" Snapshots from Qalandiya: A young woman with two small children, a boy of about seven and a girl of four. She tries to avoid standing on line. . These are her children, she tells the soldiers. They are too small to stand in line. "They don't even look like her!", one soldier sneers. "They aren't even registered in her ([Palestinian Authority] ID,"Uriel insists on telling us. The children can go through, alone, she is told. The boy, horror and fear written all over his face, bursts into tears. Eventually, he takes his little sister by the hand and leads her past the soldiers and then they break into a run , off southwards. It is a harrowing sight. The mother stands on line and…… goes through! Was that child's fear really an essential part of his afternoon out? An old woman, very frail, is being helped along by a very young woman and her babyinfo-icon. The old woman patently cannot manage alone. But the young woman has no papers. A woman soldier grudgingly lets the trio through. Ronni asks what the hold-up was and is told that the problem was the young woman. "But the old lady cannot walk alone!" Ronni says. "Then why does she come here at all?"is the counter-question from the woman soldier! A resident of A-Ram is refused permission to pass in order to travel home. He shows his orange ID and the blue ID of his Israeli wife.Tucked into a plastic envelope, he has a much folded, very worn paper from an Israeli magistrates court in which his wife declares that she is indeed his wife and that, among other things, she gives permission for him to drive her car. He has obviosuly carried it in his pocket until it has all but disintegrated. "No Israeli court wold issue such a messy document!" says Uriel, scornfully. "He can't go through!" A lad of about 14, one of the wheelbarrow boys who undercut their adult competitors, has for no apparent reason, annoyed one of the soldiers. "He's getting on my nerves. If he doesn't get the hell out of here, I'll take his trolley away,"the soldier says. And sure enough , in five more minutes, he has wrestled the trolley away and parked it deep inside the checkpoint where it remains for quarter of an hour until Segen Uriel himself has to give the order to have it restored to the lad! DG