Checkpoints

Testimonials: Scenes and Experiences of Israeli Checkpoints.

One of the village neighbors called me up the other day from London where he’s studying and told me he had that dream again. His name is Omar, a smart cat, kind of a hippy with long hair and wobby gait. I was a little bewildered as to why he was still trippin’ about it, at least for a couple seconds. It was the American in me. It was the Novocain called American consumerism, a thousand miles long and still riddling my soul. I didn’t care that it took him 4 hours to get to his school that should have taken 15 minutes. I didn’t care that he couldn’t even remember the lesson plan that day, only that old lady who lives in his nightmares—could have been my stoic Grandma, anyone’s dear old-granny—for God and a gun holder; her grey and black hair sticking out of his clenched fist, her old legs trying to make the dirt and stone path below her a forgotten moment instead of a ruthless scrape. He might as well have dragged me, my mother, my brother, my dad and all my uncles and aunts, cousins and neighbors, my entire history, my olive groves and my stories, linked in arms and tumbling with no dignity, eating dirt behind this kid, scraping our knees and crying to God (even the Atheists).

But still. I wondered for a couple of seconds. Still…. I thought “Why’s this kid still trippin’?”

-Husam Z. (Arabic and Spanish Double major, UC Berkeley Undergraduate)

One word springs to mind when I think of the checkpoints: as an Israeli, I again and again experienced deep shame. Once outside Ramallah, after a joint peace demostration – a long line of families, poor people, waiting and waiting, and a dilemma: I wanted to get out, to return to Tel Aviv as soon as I can. I am late, so I took the fast lane, the one for Israelis – flashing mu blue identity card, passing by all the tired faces, leaving them behind in the hot sun.

A second memory is from a checkpoint near Nablus – on a way to a meeting with Palestinian students. This is a small checkpoint, out minibus stops far away and we hear a shot in the air. Soldiers are shouting at someone. We are paralyzed, but there is an international volunteer there, standing between the soldiers and a Palestinian, taking a beating. We are too afraid to go any nearer. Nothing can convey the deep, deep, feeling of shame.

-Tom P. (Israeli Citizen, Graduate Program Sociology, UC Berkeley)

On my way back to Ramallah I went through the Al’hoowarah checkpoint again. I was in line for two and a half hours. It was hot. The dust and dirt from the street rose from the wheels of taxies drving away because no car was let through. There were people lined up for hours. Young men were turned away. Women and children and older men just stood in line. Each person before crossing was on one side of an arbitrary line separating “over here” and “over there”. Like cattle we lined up caged in a rotating door for about a minute the subject to searches. First, the soldiers told us to walk into the door buzz one person in then keep the other caged till they are ready for the next Palestinian to harrass. Then the soldiers asked for the person’s Hawaweeia (passport) they asked a few questions like “why don’t you leave this place?” and “why are you in a city filled with terrorists?” The woman ahead of me had two kids and a really big bag. When her and her two kids got through the rotating steal door the soldier asked her to open her bag and she did. In it was another bag. The soldier accused her of smugging weapons. She said that the brown paper bag was just warec’kk 3’neb (grape leaves). His face looked unsympathetic as he stabbed the bag and ripped it open with a sharp piece of metal at the end of his gun. She just stood there stoic, her two kids crying. When it was my turn I was obviously annoyed and I gave the soldier a hard time. He asked me where I was from and I said Palestine. He asked why I was in Nablus and I said nothing. He said I was American and that he liked tu-pac and I said nothing. He said Nablus is filled with terrorists and dangerous people and I said “you should be afraid”. I could still hear Nablus in the distance—young, vibrant, breathing. This experience however, at the checkpoint, makes me so fed up I think for a split second—I never want to come back here again. I was scared out of my wits because the soldier that asked me for my passport—he was an Israeli kid about 18 years old, he was pointing a gun right at my head. The soldier that was checking my passport asked if I was an Arab and this young kid said that I needed to be careful because there are terrorists in Nablus; this young kid was the terrorist. I felt like sticking out my tongue and making a funny face at him to first, confuse him and second make him feel as ridiculous as he sounded. I am planning on going back anyway this Saturday, which just proves that constant harassment can only be endured but it can also be overcome

-Journal Entry, July 3

-Dinna O. (Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies Double major, UC Berkeley Undergraduate)

I mumbled something-in Arabic—to the Palestinian teenager sitting next to me. I was apprehensive, anxious for a movement or a voice to quell my fear; I had never been in a situation like this. We were two people on a mini-bus—the Ram Allah-Jerusalem Line—and an Israeli soldier flagged it down at a checkpoint. My de facto companion smiled; his face too old and haggard for his years. He spoke to me in Arabic: “Don’t worry, it’s normal”. I worried. The soldier swaggered onto the bus, a pair of aviator sunglasses over his eyes and an uzi clanking at his side. He took the drivers keys, pocketed them and surveyed the passengers. He seemed board, apathetic. He spotted an old Palestinian man. “Come here,” he commanded impertinently. The man was obstinate, “What, I’m not doing anything,” he said, “I’m going to see my grand kids. Shabbat Shalom” “What’s in the bag?” The soldier demanded. “Gifts! Food! Here, take a look. Shabbat Shalom”. The soldier tensed up. He was still standing at the door of the bus, the old man sitting midway. “I want you to come here” “Why, you’re a big boy. Go to him yourself!” A Palestinian-American girl piped up in English. The soldier relaxed and said in a remarkably calm voice: “Listen, you. Shut up or it’s your face on the pavement. Got it?” He looked at the old man again and relented, board of our company. He gave the driver back his keys and hopped off the bus. We were off again. I listened to that grandfather all the way to Jerusalem. He spoke of how he respected the Jewish religion, of his love for his grand kids, of his pain at seeing innocents, any innocents, die and of his anger. Then he said something I did not expect. He looked at me and wheezed enthusiastically: “Don’t blame that kid, it’s not his fault.”

-Brett W. (UC Berkeley Undergraduate)

And now….. Our Featured Documentary… “CHECKPOINT”

 

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B’tselem on Checkpoints

(http://www.btselem.org/)

The restrictions on movement that Israel has imposed on the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories over the past five years are unprecedented in the history of the Israeli occupation in their scope, time, and severity of damage they cause to the three and a half million Palestinians. In the past, Israel imposed a comprehensive closure on the Occupied Territories or a curfew on a specific town or village to restrict Palestinian freedom of movement; however, it never imposed sweeping and prolonged restrictions comparable to those currently in practice.

Israel has dissected the West Bank into a number of sections and makes it hard for Palestinians to move from one to the other. Israel has set up dozens of checkpoints, prohibits Palestinians from traveling on dozens of roads, and forbids Palestinians without special permits to enter the Jordan Valley and East Jerusalem, which are integral parts of the West Bank . Also, Israel forbids almost completely movement of Palestinians between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and impedes Palestinians from entering Israel and from going abroad.

These restrictions have significantly affected the daily lives of Palestinians in commerce, in access to medical treatment and educational institutions, and in conducting social activities. A simple action such as going to work in the nearby town, marketing farm produce, obtaining medical treatment, and visiting relatives entails bureaucratic procedures, at the end of which the army often denies the application for a movement permit.

International human rights law requires Israel to respect the right of residents of the Occupied Territories to move about freely in the occupied territory. This right is recognized in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Furthermore, international humanitarian law requires Israel, in its capacity as the occupier, to ensure the safety and well-being of the local residents, and to maintain, as far as possible, normal living conditions.

Freedom of movement is important because it is a prerequisite to the exercise of other rights, such as those set forth in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, among them the right to work (Article 6), the right to an adequate standard of living (Article 11), the right to health (Article 12), the right to education (Article 13), and the right to protection of family life (Article 10).

Israel is entitled to protect itself by taking various means, including restrictions on movement. However, the sweeping and prolonged restrictions it has imposed, and the grave harm its policy has caused to the local population in all aspects of life, constitute a flagrant breach of its legal obligations.

Furthermore, Israel’s policy is blatant discrimination based on national origin, in that the restrictions apply only to Palestinians. Jewish residents are permitted to enter and leave the settlements without restriction. The IDF has even explicitly admitted that the restrictions on movement imposed on Palestinians are intended to ensure the free movement of Jews in the Occupied Territories. Thus, Israel’s policy violates the right to equality, which is incorporated in human rights conventions to which Israel is party.

Statistics on checkpoints and roadblocks

(http://www.btselem.org/)

Permanent internal checkpoints

Israel currently maintains 54 permanent checkpoints within the West Bank . Staffing of the checkpoints varies: some are staffed around the clock, others only during the day or for part of the day. These checkpoints impose the harshest restrictions on movement. Palestinians wanting to cross undergo inspection and often long delays. At some, soldiers only allow Palestinians with special permits to cross.

Green Line checkpoints

There are 29 checkpoints that are the last inspection point between the West Bank and Israel . Some of these checkpoints are situated inside the West Bank , up to several kilometers from the Green Line. These checkpoints are permanent and are staffed. In addition, there are 73 gates in the separation barrier. Only 38 of them are for Palestinians. These are open only part of the day, and all Palestinians wanting to cross must have a special permit.

Surprise [flying] checkpoints

According to OCHA's figures, in December 2006, there was a weekly average of some 160 flying checkpoints throughout the West Bank . These are staffed checkpoints set up for a period of a few hours.

Internal checkpoints in Hebron

Twelve checkpoints are situated in Hebron , in areas where there is friction between settlers and Palestinians. They are permanently staffed and the persons who cross are checked.

Physical obstructions

In addition to the staffed checkpoints, the military has set up hundreds of physical obstructions (concrete blocks, dirt piles, trenches) which close off roads and prevent access to and from Palestinian communities. OCHA has tabulated the number of such obstacles within the West Bank as follows:

- 219 dirt piles at entrances to villages or to block roads

- 38 Km of fences along roadways

- 35 Km of a one-meter-high fence, primarily in the southern Hebron hills

- 31 Km of trenches that prevent vehicles from crossing

- 69 locked gates at entrances to villages, with the keys being held by the army

Forbidden Roads

Forty-one sections of roads in the West Bank , covering a distance of some 700 Km, are restricted to Palestinian traffic, while Israelis are allowed to travel on them freely.

(Topic from: www.myspace.com/palestine) Awakening the world, One Person at a time

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