Guest: Ruthi R

We pass acquaintances from Hamam el Maliah on the road to Tayasir Checkpoint, and go to H., who lives in a small tent. On Saturday an army jeep passed by. An officer, Yosef, came and demanded a plant that H. did not have – he only grows peas. The plant that Yosef wanted is protected and the Palestinians cannot harvest it, even though traditionally it was part of their available food. Two days later, Yosef returned with another soldier. H. was not home. His sister watched from a neighbouring home while the two ripped the tent and entered to overturn it.

Translation: Bracha B.A.

11:30 Maaleh Ephraim Checkpoint
The checkpoint is manned by two soldiers in the booth, but there are no Palestinians at this hour.

11:50 Hamra Checkpoint
There are not a lot of cars at this hour and the soldiers are quiet.  People pass through very quickly. Cars drop people off 50 meters west of the checkpoint and people wait 50 meters to the east.  The men emerge with their belts in their hands.  The booth that soldiers were sitting in fore bhas been replaced by a sealed room and the soldiers sit behind a glass window. Cars going in the direction of Nablus are not checked, but pedestrians passing through have to walk through the checkpoint on the road in the sun. A large area north of the checkpoint has been fenced off and the land has been leveled.  During the last two weeks the soldiers have discovered explosives almost every day.  Is it any wonder?  For the past two years no explosives were discovered and now they find them every day.  This seems rather unlikely since it is relatively easy to bypass the checkpoint through the open areas surrounding it.  One of the Palestinians we know explains that the exaggerated importance of this checkpoint to security is used to justify the intense construction that is going on here that will infringe upon the Palestinians' lives.  Perhaps they will even build a terminal here.

12:40 – Tayasir Checkpoint
There is very little traffic.  The same soldier who sent an elderly woman home last week sent a young man back who had forgotten his certificate at home.  All this for the sake of keeping things in order, of course. At 13:30 the children arrive, running happily, but the commanding officer stops them and makes them go through one by one – for the sake of keeping things in order.  They pass by the soldiers with suspicious looks until they are at a safe distance.  Most of the children greet us happily.  Cars that do not have registration of ownership of people in the valley are sent back.

15:00 – Gochia Gate
No Palestinians arrived and consequently no soldiers arrived either.
The road to Hadadya is still blocked by a mound of earth, forcing people to drive around the settlement of Roi.  Instead of driving five minutes they how have to drive 20 – a substantial expense for tractor fuel.

16:30 – Hamra Checkpoint
There are no lines in either direction.  There is a line of five cars from the direction of Nablus. Cars are being checked in only one direction.  We went to see a clinic that is built out of mud bricks and we were received as guests by a family who lived in a house that was built out of mud.  We listened to the story of the family who explained that in 2006 and 2007 all the houses on their land were destroyed except for one house that was built before 1967.   Since it is impossible to receive a permit to build in area C under Israeli jurisdiction, seven of the nine members of the family lave left to live in the West Bank because they have nowhere to live.  The land, however, is theirs and they have a "Kushan" (a certificate of registration)!    

Translation: Bracha B.A.

We stopped to talk with one of the residents of one of the tent camps near Tayasir who told us about the fine he received from the Israel Nature Preservation Society for grazing his herds in the area.  The cows were walking on unmarked roads.  The area was abandoned by a resident of the area many years ago.  Since then the settlement of Rotem has been established on the land and the residents often come to bathe in the spring.  The native residents are not permitted to enter. Complaints have been submitted to various MKs.

14:13 – Tayasir Checkpoint
The soldier is standing on the concrete platform in the vehicle inspection area.  His hand is barely able to reach the documents that people are handing him.  He inspects the trunk of the cars and asks the drivers about what they are carrying, where they are going, their origin, etc.  An officer named Nadav orders the checkpoint to be closed in order that we leave.  After five minutes the soldiers receive orders to open it again.

The soldiers and the Palestinians speak Hebrew with a foreign accent.  The children pass through the checkpoint hesitantly with their eyes downcast.
The army has blocked one of the two roads near the settlement of Roi that leads to the land belonging to the Hadidya family.  They how have to make a 20-minutes detour with their tractors.  The Liaison and Coordination Administration explains that "this is so that they won't bring explosives to the checkpoint."   This is nonsense.  The real reason is that the settlers don't want the Palestinians driving near the settlement.

15:00 Guchia Gate
The gate is closed.  A tractor with seven children and two adults is standing in front of the gate.  The gate is supposed to be opened twice a day two days a week for a half hour, but sometimes the soldiers don't come at all.At 15:45 after endless phone calls soldiers arrive in a jeep.  "Funny" says S., "If we are five minutes late they don't let us through the checkpoint."  The soldiers always check the IDs that Israel issues against the limited list of residents that the army issues who are "permitted" to go through the gate.  Today they ask for the children's birth certificates as well.  The people on the tractor are surprised at this and explain and ask for permission until the soldiers finally allow the children – most of whom are about ten years old -  to go through accompanied by their siblings.

Hamra Checkpoint
They are building and expanding the checkpoint.  10 cars are waiting on all sides for the heavy equipment to go through and for the soldiers to begin to check. The entire area of the checkpoint is filled with dust from the construction work and a lot of people are walking across.  The workers explain that they are renovating the checkpoint.  "Otherwise people won't be able to go through – next week they will put up a fence here and a fence there."

The soldiers peek inside people's bags.  A soldier makes a veiled woman remove her face covering so that he can let her through.

17:17 – Maaleh Ephraim checkpoint
There are no soldiers around or in the guard tower.  A lineup of Palestinian cars formed immediately while the cars belonging to the Jews passed them by.  The Palestinian cars have to stop and receive permission to pass.  We walked with the first car until it passed through and when the others saw that it had gone through they passed through as well.

Translation: Bracha B.A.

The valley is still green. The wild flowers are colorful, the sheep are enjoying the grass, the Bedouin are gathering plants, and of course, the army camps and fences are still the same.  Before we went to Tayasir Checkpoint we stopped to unload winter clothes on the side of the road leading to one of the encampments. Children came to take the clothes and a woman came and invited us to drink.  She asked about Dafna and said that Dafna always comes to drink with her and we promised to come again the next time.

14:20 – Tayasir CheckpointWe stood opposite the entrance to the base.  A soldier was walking along the fence talking on his mobile phone and announced that a blue Volkswagen was parked next to the fence.  We didn't see any schoolchildren because they had returned earlier.
We encountered taxis that had come from the West bank and were waiting for passengers who had gotten out to be checked in the inspection booth. Vans and small trucks were traveling towards the West Bank with workers or cargo. We did not see the unpleasant sight of people lining up to have their IDs checked. 
An elderly man who lives in Tayasir in the West Bank has a house and children but he himself lives in Badla in the Jordan valley and is a beekeeper. A worker from the Palestinian Authority tells us in English about his work and about projects for promoting social and agricultural initiatives for residents of the Jordan valley. Today he went with another activist from somewhere else to bring equipment for a kindergarten in Ein El Bida opposite the settlement of Mechola.  There are about 2000 residents there. We added a large bag of dolls and asked them if they were aware of the military activity in the area west of the checkpoint.  He said that the army was particularly evident during the night, but that they no longer enter people's houses.  His son was arrested and in prison in Israel but was freed with the help of good attorneys.

We left at 15:20.  On the Alon road we can see the dirt embankments running along the side of the road. The Guchia gate opposite the settlement of Roi is closed.

Hamra Checkpoint 15:40
A woman, waiting on the side of the road, is worried about her husband who is still inside the checkpoint.  A dog held by a woman soldier is checking his car.  The man arrived angry and agitated about all the items in the car that the dog had sniffed, and now he had to throw them all away. "For us a dog is profane," he explains.  “Do they think I have weapons?  Is this the easing up of procedures at checkpoints?  Anyone who has a weapon wouldn't cross at a checkpoint."

After that we saw another search of a Fiat Uno. Between searches the dog handler has her dog perform jumping tricks.  People arrive after being checked with their belts in their hands.  "Look what a mess they make here for us."

A grader is working on the concrete area that we saw here two weeks ago, and was later joined by a bulldozer from the army.  The soldier operating the grader tells Edna that he knows that we don’t spit on soldiers because he sees us at checkpoints, and wonders how we offer to do our work without pay or without compensation for our expenditures.  He asks where our reports go and who reads them.  His contractor (from Jerusalem) won the bid for construction in the West bank and he is now hired to pave the area next to the inspection booth.  He is waiting for asphalt to arrive and therefore has time to ask questions.  Other soldiers join him: one introduced himself as a representative from the Liaison and Coordination Administration and asked about Dafna, and the other was the same rank, and the third has a cap on with an insignia from "Carob", a military unit.
We asked about the dog.  The representative from the Liaison and Coordination Administration explained that there was a serious warning issued and that "Here at the checkpoint we don't harass people.  We bring them water and they bring us explosives."  Only last week we discovered seven grenades."  During the usual dialogue about "We have a right to this country and they don't want to make peace" they received an announcement about the killing of a soldier at the Tapuach Junction.

The grader and bulldozer began to move.  The grader worked at the crossing next to the signs pointing to Jerusalem and Tuba, and ran into the poles holding the signs as well as the concrete block holding the light pole.  The place became dangerous for pedestrians – particularly women and children who were coming out of the inspection booth.  The bulldozer repaired the concrete block and returned it to its place and the grader continued with its work as if he were building a new road southward, perhaps paving a platform, perhaps for rest rooms, as the person from the Liaison and Coordination Administration had explained.   The bulldozer uprooted weeds and cleared away two trees next to the large garbage bins.  It was all right to clear away the litter, but we asked why they were uprooting the trees.  We were told that the trees were blocking the view.  Throughout the time we were there cars passed through the checkpoint, many of them were new and impressive.

We left at 16:15.  

13:10 - Tyasir checkpoint
Small children and teachers return home from school. All go through the pedestrians' checkpoint.

The mini-bus in which they came wait for them on the other side of the checkpoint.

There are 4 soldiers on site.

13:15 - Workers who've been working at the Ro'ee settlement (Jordan Valley) begin showing up and now they go to their homes in Tamon (West Bank) together with them come more vehicles and there is no sign on part of the soldiers that someone plan to get them through.

13:27 - After observing that no one is going through Anina asks the soldiers why has passage was stopped.

The explanation: "We are entitled to a lunch break of 20 minutes". But due to the question, one soldier calls for the cars (15 of them) most drivers turned off the switch of their vehicles and got out to hang out. Now each car is inspected thoroughly and slowly; people get off the vehicles and one by one go under inspection. Cars trunks are opened as well as all doors .covers of merchandise are lifted. It seems to us as some sort of revenge due to our intervention.
Teachers returning from Bardale on their way to Tubas greet us.  We left when everyone else has left.

14:20 - Hamra checkpoint
Along the way we see herds of sheep and blossoming of wild flowers.
Innovations at the checkpoint: Various tractors and mini-Bulldozer working on site, straightening the Asphalt and cleaning it. Is there a move towards "development"?

14:30 An armored vehicle arrives, drops off soldiers for a shift change. With that group there's a dog with its female trainer. This is the first time that we see a dog on this checkpoint (innovation?). Workers return from their day's work in the settlements; all go through without being inspected. Some are required to present their I.D cards.

 Translation: Bracha B.A.

The entire Jordan valley is green and the furze and Calycotome are already flowering.  There are also anemones and alium.  The army camps, fences, and checkpoints ruin the pastoral life that could exist here in the Jordan Valley near Tubas and Nablus, without having to stop for a sleepy soldier or for his comrade whose mouth is full of food, taking their time to finally let people pass. The gardens in the "Jiftlik are neglected and the road is still adorned with signs reading "Bring the Oslo Criminals to Justice."

 Tayasir Checkpoint, 13:20
The soldiers motioned for us to approach them and didn't know who we are.  We drove up to their position.  They were eating and they understood why we had come.  They opened the gate so that we could turn around and we drove back to the gate of the camp where we stood and watched.  It was quiet, and there were a few taxis carrying mostly women and children dressed in holiday clothes.  They were taking advantage of the school vacation to travel.  The taxis drive through and the passengers are checked in the inspection booth where there is an X-ray machine.

The trucks and taxis that come from the east went through without delay. An army vehicle drives through the checkpoint going west. According to the red signs this is forbidden, but perhaps there is another army camp on the other side.

14:30 – We left and drove towards Hamra Checkpoint.  We unloaded winter clothes along the road leading to one of the tent camps.  We also passed a driver with a tractor pulling a tank of water and could not believe the price of the water he was carrying.

14:55 Hamra Checkpoint
A truck with a crane is placing metal beams on top of something that looks like a large generator on the concrete area east of the checkpoint.  There are two huge army trucks next to it.  The two trucks eventually left with noisy squealing of tires.  A sergeant asked us to keep away from the construction work for our safety and we backed off.

At 3 in the afternoon a new shift of soldiers arrived.  They will have to remain in this cold place until 11 at night.  Meanwhile a line of cars has begun to form the east.
The soldiers said goodbye to those who were leaving and took up positions.  They did not let the cars pass.  We showed them the line that had formed and they went to work.  At 15:15 a busload of workers arrived – the only one that we saw.

We left at 15:45.