Beit Iba

Beit Iba, Sunday 18.02.07, PM Aliya S., Alix W., Susan L. (reporting)SummaryWe may not think that the use of language forms an important component of a MachsomWatch shift. We already know that language evolves in response to changing historical and social conditions. And we recognize that language shapes and forms our world. But in the OPT it seems that there's an ongoing development in the use of military phrases and abbreviations that reinforce the culture of occupation. Meanings are changed and new symbols created. New words are invented daily, and the meanings of old ones change. Separation, differentiation, quarantine meaning restrictions (bidul in Hebrew). Encirclement (keter in Hebrew, where, with a change in spelling, the meaning becomes a crown). This evolution has taken place in the OPT over the past year, or so, and it is ongoing, with "encirclement" being the latest addition to the glossary of occupation.Qalqiliya13:10 -- the obstacle course to get into the OPT becomes more of a hurdle each week. The little orange cones are firmly ensconced on the ground, but there's now a border policewoman stationed at the roundabout as we enter the "terminal" area, and several more border policemen along the way, plus a variety of military trucks. Note: there are also police, but blue police here, and similar orange cones at the entrance to the Jubara "terminal" area.13:49 Jit JunctionA Hummer and four soldiers stand at one of the positions, but no checkpoint – as yet.Deir SharafThe Huwwash brothers are back at work in their carpentry shop today, but we notice that the large piece of equipment, newly delivered from China, complete with Chinese directions on it, is missing. Sold, the brothers tell us: no work, the money is needed.14:10 Beit IbaThe checkpoint is in its usual winter mess. There's been heavy rain and hail earlier in the day, and there are a variety of blue wooden boards strewn across the still wet paths where pedestrians have to walk. Vehicle checking of few vehicles from Deir Sharaf and not many from the Nablus direction proceeds smoothly. IDs of people in buses are looked at outside the bus, two soldiers then enter it, and leave. An ambulance takes a couple of minutes to go through the checkpoint, the back is opened up.Surprisingly, the commander, E., spends all his time at the vehicle checking area. But he knows what's going on at the central check post and, smilingly, comes up to brief us. "I know what you want to find out" is what he says. Also at the vehicle checking area is a DCO representative, who is called on for none of the problems we encounter, and who appears to be doing next to nothing, besides smoking a cigarette, as does the military policewoman, in sight of the "No Smoking" sign at the central checking area. There are three men in the detention compound, recent arrivals, and a young woman, standing in the open doorway of the lockup, holding a plastic bag. She's been there for a while, evidently, and E. says it looks as if she has a forged ID: the necessary stamp doesn't cover her face, and he's waiting for the police. In addition, a long truck, bearing a lone Israeli taxi stands waiting – also for the police. A man with a vehicle begs to be let through. The office for permits has been closed, so he's on his way to Tarqumia, having been told to get the permit there – the usual Catch 22 story. As for what the day's rules are for freedom of movement (a concept completely alien to this occupying force), we learn now that there are certainly no restrictions of the kind to which we have become accustomed. Instead there's "encirclement" of Nablus, or, from the Hebrew word used, it also sounds as if Nablus wears a crown (surely a crown of thorns)…. At any rate, all those from 16-25, women as well as men, cannot leave Nablus. 14:40 -- a typical blue police van, found in any community on the other side of the Green Line, arrives, stands in a main traffic passageway in the center of the checkpoint. A woman, holding a Jordanian passport, who's been talking to the soldiers at the central checking post, makes her way over to the police van, as does the young woman who's been standing in the doorway of the lockup. They are joined by E., the DCO representative and another soldier. The two blue policemen never budge from their van, but are seen to make phone calls. 14:50 -- the young woman, accused of holding a forged ID, leaves, makes her way in the direction of Deir Sharaf, and is followed ten minutes later by the Jordanian woman whose problem, we learn, is that she carried neither a Jordanian nor a Palestinian ID. Evidently, in this part of the world, where rules are freely made up, a passport means little!Change of soldier shift. Time to move on to another checkpoint.