Sheikh Saed
16/05/2013 ,Morning
Rahel M., Michaela R. (reporting)
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09/05/2013 ,Morning
Rahel M., Shosh H., Michaela R. (reporting)
6:40 Sheikh Saed
A line of c. 10, crossing time c. 10 mins. A few were not allowed to cross and had to turn back.
Sawahira ash-Sharkiya
Many children crossing. We were unable to make out whether there were difficulties (as reported on the network) because of language difficulties.
Judging by facial expressions and the general trnaquillity, it was possible to infer that this morning there were no special problems.
Small children were interested in us and in the inscriptions on our badges.
A little boy came back to treat us with cookies, a touching gesture.
07/05/2013 ,Morning
Idit S. (photographing), Anat T. (photographing and reporting)
A new wall is under construction, and plans for separate roads are taking shape.
The rest is much the same...
Photos:
Preparations for separate roads for Palestinians
A red traffic light to no-where at the Shu'afat checkpoint
Empty space at the Shu'afat checkpoint
06:45 Sheikh Saed
An elderly Palestinian with a permit for prayer on Friday only, is not allowed to cross. The drivers in the transportation lot say he's from the Nablus area and comes almost every day
and tries to cross... he himself says he's trying to visit a sick relative.
It's not clear why he wishes/tries to cross, and it's difficult to help in such a situation; but it's clear that he's not a security threat. Aside from him, everyone crosses safely and quickly.
08:00 Shu'afat refugee camp
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Many traffic jams on the way to Shuafat. We wanted to meet G., but the bus parking lot is empty and no one answers the pnone. We had time to inspect what Idit calls "urban disasters", particularly abundant here: a red traffic light facing an area full of concrete road blocks and fences; empty fenced-off lots which could have served for parking close to the checkpoint while the approach from the road to the checkpoint is long and especially arduous; lots of fences and cages scattered without any rational plan. Someone is making a lot of money out of this.
Outside the checkpoint some sort of earthworks have begun._0.jpg)
08:30 Olive Terminal
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We tried to decipher the meaning of the fence under construction, going east from the checkpoint, apparently as far as Az-Za'ayyim. We consulted well-informed folk in Ir Amim, and others, and all think this is part of the long-planned road system whose purpose is to convert the Jerusalem-Ma'aleh Adumim road into a route exclusively for Israelis, thus removing the checkpoint for residents of Ma'aleh Adumim, while at the same time creating a separate road for Palestinian traffic from the north to the south of the West Bank, through the hills and the wadi below Al Ezariya. This would not only prevent Palestinians from using the Israeli road, but also exclude their passage through the controversial E1 area through which Israel wishes to connect Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem. Obviously, if Palestinians cannot access E1 and will have a separate route from the north to the south of the West Bank, this would ease construction in and annexation of E1 at some later stage. It looks as though new energies in the Defence Ministry are reviving old plans and starting up the bulldozers, this time without traces of left-wing relics.
25/04/2013 ,Morning
Rahel M., Michaela R. (reporting)
5 children failed to reach their school because they had forgotten their documents at home.
6:00 Sheikh Saed
Routine traffic, fast crossing.
Olive Terminal
Construction of the wall is progressing. A new metal gate permits vehicles to cross from the parking space to the construction area.
Inside: A line in front of each checking booth. Occasionally one closes and people rush to another lane but after a while that one closes and the former reopens.
A boy of 9-10 is not allowed to cross. With the help of an older translator we learn that he had forgotten his birth certificate at home. The child felt lost and wept. He lives in Al Ezariya, far from the checkpoint. Another 4 children had to return to their homes.
In the state of Israel an educational institution is not permitted to send a child to his home without advising his parents. And in the state of checkpoints?
Anata
Chaos in the parking lot. Hundreds of children waiting for transportation but today the buses are late, probably due to traffic jams.
Chaos also in the vehicle lanes. At one point the line of cars stretches from the checkpoint to the main road and its end is out of sight. Usually in the mornings there are three checking points but today only one was operative continuously, another was closed some of the time. Angry people, deafening honking, but in the checking area the soldiers and guards ignore the distress of those in a hurry, chatting or sweeping the area.
Suddenly an ear-splitting alarm is heard, the metal barrier drops in front of a car already checked. After a few minutes, the barrier lifts and the car moves on, as though nothing had happened.
23/04/2013 ,Morning
Anat T., Dafna S. (reporting)
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18/04/2013 ,Morning
Rahel M., Michaela R. (reporting)
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6:10 Sheikh Saed
The corridor is overflowing, more than 20 are crowded in it. Crossing is c. 8 minutes.
A young man is denied crossing. Later 8 men had to turn back, some even without being checked.
Cliff Hotel
Notices from the Land Administration hang on the numerous fences warning against entry into the area, subject to risk of life.
Close to the fence, there is a notice about the purchase of the hotel, saying inter alia:
"...(the property) is required for a facility for military and security purposes, to create a barrier on the seam (henceforth, the pupose of the purchase)... The area is required for coping with terror, to bar, intercept and prevent terrorist infiltration from Judaea and Samaria into Israel in general and the Jerusalem precinct in particular.
In view of which the Minister of Finance intends to purchase the right of use of this land [Cliff Hotel] for a period of ten years..."
The notice is dated 29.1.2013, and signed Yuval Steinitz, Minister of Finance.
Well?! The building has been appropriated by the army for years, so why this sudden purchase? Isn't the wall sufficient to bar, intercept, prevent etc. without including the building? Or is there a connection between the setllement of Kidmat Zion, the entrance to which is via the hotel's courtyard?
The building itself is neglected, the windows shattered.
A shiny jeep with windows protected by metal sheets against stone-throwing, carrying 4 burly males, arrives. The soldier tells them they have no permit, but after a pleasant conversation he opens the gate, and they're on their way.
A female settler from Kidmat Zion leaves in her car.
Olive Terminal
On our way in we observe a female soldier, her legs propped on the table, busy with her cell phone. As we left, one of the men crossing complained that her fiddling with the cell phone was time wasted at his expense.
The lines in the corridors are short.
An angry woman asked to turn back after her son (?) was sent to another corridor. The turnstile cannot turn back, and she addresses the soldiers angrily in Arabic. They shout back at her in Hebrew through the loudspeakers.
11/04/2013 ,Morning
Rahel M., Michaela R. (reporting)
5:20 Sheikh Saed
Very dark, few crossing, we did not observe any special problems.
Olive Terminal
A sort of armoured jeep is parked near the parking lot. Later it set off a defeaning siren and moved to some unknown to us destination.
Below the parking lot work is proceeding on the building of a wall.
At the checkpoint: 3 lanes operating, a line of dozens in front of each, stretching to the edge of the metal barrier inside. Crossing time is c. 20 minutes, slow moving, the people quiet and weary, accustomed to the despair.
04/04/2013 ,Morning
Rahel M., Michaela R. (reporting)
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An ordinary day under occupation.
6:20 Sheikh Saed
Today it's just adults crossing, with the exception of one boy. Checking is orderly, performed in reasonable time. The magnometer beeps incessantly, even the labourers are not spared the dance of one step forward, emptying pockets, one step backward, then forward again -- and sometimes over and over again, until the magnometer stops.
Olive Terminal
Two lanes are open, Crossing is mostly fast.
Below the parking lot a sort of channel is being dug, perhaps in preparation for a wall/fence.
Az-Za'ayyem
They don't like us here. No sooner had we situated ourselves on the side, than a loud and arrogant officer threatened us, demanding we leave his checkpoint. We moved in the direction of the main road but he continued to demand and threaten. We didn't move, and he left. He is not the first to abuse his policing authority, and sadly not the last.
Nothing much happend at the checkpoint because an enormous traffic jam slowed down the flow of vehicles considerably.
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07/03/2013 ,Morning
Rahel M., Michaela R. (reporting)
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05/03/2013 ,Morning
Dafna S., Anat T. (reporting)
6:45 Sheikh Saed
The trash bins are overflowing and piles of rubbish are scattered all along the road descending to the checkpoint. Stench is in the air. Pupils on their way to different schools wind their way between the piles.
We report to the person in charge of the area from the sanitation deprtment of the municipality. He says the garbage will be removed today, as is done three times a week. It seems this is not enough. He tells us that along the American Road the removal of construction rubble has begun. Is this related to the ring-road which has been approved; and what's the connection? Perhaps someone in the delegation of area planners was shocked by the state of the roads and the sanitation.
The slopes of the Sheikh Saed hill are dotted with a thick carpet of blue garbage bags. The locals say that a garbage truck arrives from Ramallah once a week to collect, and meantime they dump the bags, and occasionally burn them. The neighbourhood is without doubt neglected both by Israel and the Palestinian Authority. To be sure they don't pay taxes, neverthelss the infra-structure is in appalling condition.
The soldiers this time don't oppose our arrival. Many vehicles await passengers to Behtlehem and Jerusalem. Passage is quick and smooth.
7:15 Sawaharra and Al-Sharkiya Checkpoint
Along the road winding from the checkpoint many pupils are walking to school in Jerusalem. A few minibuses pass but in general few cars use this road and people mostly walk long distances.
At the checkpoint itself a massive new shelter has been raised over the road and we film a rare spectacle: a car crosses the checkpoint for vehicles, is checked, then the barrier rises and car proceeds westward to Jerusalem. A miracle we had not seen before. But we did not see how this works in the opposite direction where there is a considerable distance between the soldiers and the crossing point. The checkpoint commander (a woman) doesn't seem to understand why we're here and how she should deal with us, but her natural intelligence and cordiality overcome her suspicions and she talks to us at length, but will reveal nothing about those crossing. We can see that it's all on listed the pages she holds, including IDs and car registration. In answer to our question whether the list includes residents of Sheikh Saed she says she "doesn't know."
7:45 Silwan
The archaeological salvage dig at the Bustan intersection continues despite cold and rain. The archaeologist tells us that a tower, a wall, and a cistern from the second temple period have been revealed, and that it has been decided not to lay the sewage pipe here; she means to continue digging as far as possible before closing this salvage dig. Hard to miss the enthusiasm of the archaeologists' Holy Grail: The City of David. Where the pipe that is supposed to serve the residents of Silwan will be laid remains unclear.
8:20 Wadi Nar
A number of dirt roads branch off the broad and comfortable road between Al Ezariya and Wadi Nar, but it's not clear whether this is the necessary extension of the last section leading to the hill with the checkpoint.
For the time being one must continue to climb the steep cliff which is officially a one-way road but with scary surprises jumping out at us from the opposite direction.
At the checkpoint the soldiers (including a woman) are standing on the side going south to Bethlehem. The checking booth on the other side is not manned. These soldiers are from a new division, and don't show any particular interest in the pack of dogs -- more than 10 -- surrounding the checkpoint. At some point a fight between two packs of dogs begins, with much barking and threatening snarls. You would surely not want to be a Palestinian caught in this scary scuffle.
With respect to the conduct of the checkpoint: no problems, no delays, traffic now flowing in both directions.
