Beit Iba

Beit Iba, Thursday PM, 6.1.05Observers: Birya L., Galia G. (reporting)14:00-16:3014:00 – Before we even arrived at the checkpoint, local residents came to us with complaints concerning the very slow pace of crossing (a wait of about 2 hours according to them), and about the attitude of the soldiers. Indeed, the checkpoint was extremely crowded, and very confusing. About 14 detainees in the shed. A representative from the DCO was there, A., who opened a quick inspection line and decreased the pressure. He said that he asked to open an additional line half an hour ago, but the MP there refused and wanted to organize things his own way. The character and actions of the officer were reflected in the appearance of the checkpoint: crowded, tense, unnecessary delays, educational punishments, etc.Again we witnessed the "driver's policy": if any drivers, in the opinion of the soldiers, disturb the flow of traffic or endanger the pedestrians or are simply in the wrong place, their keys and ID documents are taken from them, and their wages, for an hour or two. This is a known and ordinary policy, according to the soldiers, and is meant to "educate" the rebelious drivers. If we are talking about keepers of law and order – it would be appropriate to confiscate the driving license of the MP, since later on he broke out of the checkpoint at high speed, while using his siren, when there were people scattered all over the place to get out of the way of his speeding vehicle.Indeed, 3 sets of keys and IDs were confiscated from 3 taxi drivers, 45 years old or more, family men. We asked the soldiers about this punishment and explained about the harm this did to their making a living wage. "They should learn a lesson," was the answer. We reminded them that there was no parking lot in the vicinity or a space to wait in. But this didn't bother the soldiers. From among the three, only one waited in the shed. The two others, who apparently knew about this policy, waited beside their cars and came over once in a while to check whether they could get back their keys and IDs. To their misfortune, they arrived a few minutes after the officer had looked for them, and so they were punished by waiting an additional 45 minutes, this time in the shed.14:45 – We intervened in the case of the driver who was sitting in the shed. When we clearly understood that there was no question of the need to inspect his documents, we contacted Ra'ad in the DCO, who affirmed that this delay was not allowed and promised to clear up the matter. At Ra'ad's request, we asked the driver for his personal details, but he was afraid to give them.14:50 – After 40 minutes waiting in the shed, the officer gave the keys back to the driver and told him to wait in his taxi to get the ID. In our innocence, we thought this meant the driver was released, but he returned 15 minutes later to find out when he would get his ID and be able to return to work. Again, we asked the officer (with mediation from the DCO), who claimed that the ID was in the military vehicle, and when it would leave, it would be returned to its owner.15:20 – The officer left the checkpoint with a screeching of brakes, endangering the people around.16:05 – We were not able to find the driver until he returned to find out, once again, what was happening in his case. When the representative of the DCO searched in the bungalow, he found the ID in the corner and returned it to its owner.The two other drivers were also released, thanks to the intervention of the DCO rep. "Re-education" seems to be the specialty of this officer and his soldiers, and so the passage is halted every once in a while, for a few minutes, because of some behavior or other, of one of the men or women – a kind of collective punishment which increases the line and the tension.While we were there at the checkpoint, it was very crowded, as was the line of cars. Even though a large number of soldiers were wandering around the area, only three of them carried out inspection of documents (plus the DCO rep, who helped) and the passage was excruciatingly slow. The MP refused to allow us to cross over to the eastern side of the checkpoint. He said that we were bothering him in carrying out his duty. I explained that in this way he was preventing me from doing my job and also that I wanted to speak with people on the other side of the checkpoint. The response of the soldier who was there – talk to them after they go through. And in fact we did talk with some of the residents, and they were quite troubled. How can a person react whose freedom is curtailed, his dignity is trampled and his living is taken away from him? One can hear the humiliation, the anger and the deep bitterness and smell the violent hatred in Beit Iba.