Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Sheikh Saed, Wed 10.9.08, Morning

7:10 Sheikh Saed

 

The line is long, 20-30 persons, stretching as far as the end of the metal barrier.  The soldiers are slow, writing down, one by one, the names of those crossing.  Residents  we know reported waiting times of 50-60 minutes. 

Children passed freely, going to the front of the line without having their names recorded.  The officer told us, in reply to our questions, that names are recorded because  there are security (sha'bak) alerts. 

We called the DCO and after a few minutes another soldier moved in, creating another line.  He directed some of those crossing (mainly young men) to have their names recorded, others (children, women, elderly) only presented their documents to him.

8:15  The gas station at the entrance to Issawiya, on the seam of Tsameret Habira

Routine decumentation of the reality of "transparent checkpoints" in Jerusalem

Two border police jeeps are parked close to the gas station, each facing in a different direction.  The soldiers from the jeep parked on the exit lane from Issawiya from time to time stop pedestrians coming from Issawiya and ask to see ID's.  After that,  they began random checks of vehicles. 

The soldiers claimed this was routine checking, not connected to Ramadan.  One man's permits were deemed insufficient (a request for a permit to enter Jerusalem) -- the soliders received radio instructions to detain him, and one of them forbade us to talk to them because "they are my detainees."  Within a few minutes a senior border policeman arrived; rudely, he refused to  talk to us, took the man into police vehicle and drove off.  The driver of the detained vehicle followed them to the police station (so it seemed to us, from the exchange between them).

9:00 Wadi Nar

The checkpoint was tranquil.  Detained transits were released within 10 minutes.