Beit Iba
Beit Iba, Sunday, 16/9/07 afternoonObservers: Galit G., Aliyah S. reportingUsually I come home from the vigil of Machsom Watch just tired and sad. Usually it is simply the actualization of the maxim, "the banality of evil." But yesterday I came home on the verge of tears, and remained that way through the night. It was not only the cruelty of the soldiers toward the young boy or the meanness of them toward the father and son; those acts in themselves were evil and banal. But the whole idea that these soldiers are our sons and grandsons and citizens; we have raised a generation, or more, of mean-minded, hate-filled, shrunken-souled children. Where did we sin?15:45 On our way from Huwarra to Beit Iba, way before the curve of the road to Jit junction, we ran across a long line of trucks, cars and taxis. Nadim was passing them slowly, helping us to count them all, and he paid no attention to the policeman standing just before the checkpoint. Nadim was stopped and given a traffic report for having crossed a white line, (it was the only way he could get past the line of vehicles) and for not coming to a full stop at the corner. While the policeman was busy writing out the report for Nadim, Galit and I saw 4 more cars with yellow licence plates come around that corner exactly as Nadim had, over the white line and without a full stop, but the policeman was busy so he didn't notice them. There were 35 vehicles in line, being checked quite thoroughly so the line was moving slowly.16:10 Beit Iba checkpoint The checkpoint on the side going into Nablus is even more broken up, if that's possible. But right in the middle of the approach to where the soldiers stand was a freshly poured, 2 meter by 2 meter, concrete base. Is it for a new soldiers' booth?? There is a line of vehicles, about 12, going into Nablus, but very few coming out. On foot there is a steady stream of workers returning home, going into Nablus. Coming out of the city it seems to be mostly students from the university. All those coming out of Nablus are having their bags and packages checked very carefully by a soldier on a table at the side for that purpose. Those going into Nablus are being checked also. The soldier is constantly yelling at the people to stand back and come up to him one by one. People carrying bags have to open them for inspection and sometimes to take things out; but there is no provision for it on this side, so they have to put their things on the sand and stones because there isn't even a sidewalk there. One of the workers going into the city looks over at us and makes a joke of having to move back and wait, he's smiling at us. For that he is punished by the young soldier. His ID card is taken and he is told to pull up his shirt and turn around so the soldiers can see that he isn't wearing an explosive belt. Under his shirt he is wearing a skin tight undershirt (he's a bit heavy set). They demand that he pull that up too and he refuses; he says he's a religious man and he will not undress in public. One soldier demands that he go into the isolation cell at the side and he starts to go there, but someone realises that this is simply ridiculous, hands him back his ID card and he leaves.At 16:30 Galit suggests to me that since there are so few people going through the checkpoint, either direction, that we can stay for an hour or so and then leave. I agree with her.16:40 An older man came up to me to tell me that it's good that we are at the checkpoint, but in the morning the checkpoint was very difficult and took a long time. A man and his young son are being sent to the detainees
' pen. The man is trying to argue with the commander of the checkpoint who refuses to listen to him and tells him to sit down. The pen is in full sunlight and the boy (about 7 years old) is holding his hand over his eye. Galit got the story from the father. The boy has something very wrong with his right eye and the father was bringing him back from the hospital in Nablus where his eye had been treated. The father had tried to use the humanitarian line and the commander accused him of trying to get out of being checked. The man tried to explain, in Hebrew, that it was only because of the boy with his problematic eye. The commander refused to listen and told them to sit! They are from Qusin, a village very close to Beit Iba.17:00 Among the workers still going into Nablus there appears a young boy who asks the soldier for permission to go home to Nablus. He's alone, 11 years old and has no ID card, of course. The commander tells him to call home and have his father or mother come to get him; without an ID he's not going into Nablus. Some of the men are trying to help him, but he says he can't call home because they have no telephone. The commander tells him to go back where he came from. He looks confused and very unhappy. He goes to the vehicular checking where there is a separate group of soldiers and we see him talking to the soldiers and the commander there. It seems they are trying to be helpful. That commander comes over to the one at the pedestrian checkpoint to ask him to let the boy through. The commanders look at me and then walk further away where I will not be able to hear anything. Galit meanwhile is calling the army humanitarin hotline where they tell her they can't do anything. She asks them to at least try. The boy is not allowed to go through.17:15 The sun is going down behind the hill. The father and son are still being held. One soldier has taken the father's ID card and has telephoned. He hands the ID to the commander who puts it in his pocket. The father again tries to talk to him and the commander gruffly tells him to sit, that he is bothering him. We see that the commander gets a phone call. He moves far enough away from us so that we can't hear anything, but he's smiling, for him the whole thing seems to be a game. Nothing in the situation changes. The lone boy is still wandering between the two soldiers' booths, looking very forlorn.17:30 The light was fading. Nadim and Amjad, from the kiosk, are both talking to the boy. He's from Nablus, his family has no phone,and he was in Tulkarm during the day -- "at a friend's house." I suspect he comes from a very poor family and that he went to Tulkarm to work for whatever he could get. When Nadim asked him if he had some money to take a taxi home, he showed us that he had some money in his pocket. I would guess it came to about 15 shekels. By this time his lower jaw was quivering with the effort to keep from crying, and the light was fading. Galit called Nomi to ask her if she could help. She said she would call Raed at the DCO. One last Palestinian man came by, hurrying to get home, but when he saw the boy he too tried to help. The commander refused. The boy should go back where he came from. Amjad argued with him that he can't go anywhere since he lives in Nablus.18:10 The checkpoint is empty except for those of us still discussing how to help the boy. Amjad suggested that we take him with us to Huwarra where those going into Nablus aren't even checked, they just go right through. The commander heard us talking and told us in an angry tone that he would call the checkpoint at Huwarra and the boy wouldn't go through there either. It was dark. We could see the green light had gone on in the minaret visible from the checkpoint. The last man saw that he couldn't help the boy and went toward Nablus quickly. At that point the commander said that the boy could go in. Beyond the lights of the checkpoint was complete darkness. The boy was shaking with fear. Amjad tried to call to the last man to wait for the boy, but he was too far away. Amjad told the boy to run. Run, run, he encouraged him. The boy was so afraid he was hardly moving. Amjad told the commander that he would just go with the boy as far as the taxi stands and would then come back. The commander faced off with Amjad, aiming his rifle at him. None of you is going in there he said. Amjad stood there shouting encouragement to the boy as he half walked, half ran towards the darkness. Then we saw a pair of headlights on the other side. Run to the taxi Amjad shouted to him, and the boy disappeared into the darkness. That's all we know of him.18:45 The father and boy are still being held. Someone going through had earlier given the boy a piece of bread. A soldier gave the two of them some water to drink.I went to the father, took his name and mobile phone number. I was so angry I could hardly hold back my tears. I told the father we would continue calling in order to help him. I walked quickly to Nadim's car. Galit hung behind; she was talking on the phone. I called to her to come already; I just wanted to get out of there! I hadn't noticed that one last taxi had gone through the checkpoint to Nablus. Galit had stopped him, told him to look for the boy and took his phone number. She was calling him to ask him if he saw the boy, but he hadn't. We left for Huwarra.19:10 In Huwarra we called the father. They were still being held. Nomi called Raed again who said that the commander had told him that he had released the father and boy! Raed took the phone number of the father. Ten minutes later we called the father and he said he and his son were on their way home. He thanked us for our help. Everyone was hungry. We stopped in Huwarra at the baklava shop and had some sweets and coffee. Two women bought trays of baklava to take home. As we passed the Za'atra checkpoint we saw one taxi standing inside with a group of men sitting on the sidewalk, waiting. We went in to check out what was going on. This last mission is Nomi's story.