Ras 'Atiya
02/02/2010 ,Morning
Natalie, Ruthie (reporting); Natanya translating
7.30 Ras Atia. One soldier in the sentry tower, 4 soldiers at the checkpoint and some more in the checking booth ( we could not go close to see how many).
This checkpoint opens at 6.30 to 18.30. In the room IDs are checked and people go through an x-ray device.
A bus of children arrived at the village. A soldier get on and then off the back door as buses are checked at the bus station in Tel Aviv.
Now a woman comes out on foot. She is going to her lands outside the village. She asked our help. She has three sons who are not allowed to go out of the village to the lands. Only she is. The driver and children drive through the checkpoint, showing papers. The man and woman get out of the car and go to the checking area. The soldier explains that the driver is a teacher and so does not have to be carefully checked.
7.50 Ras Tira. We went into the village but met no one.
8.00 Sha'ar Eliyahu. The traffic flows and there are no delays or detainees. At Funduk there is a border patrol jeep next to the big house in the centre of the village.
We see army Hummers at the side of the road, after Kedumiem and also soldiers on patrol. An exercise? Expected settler activities?
01/02/2010 ,Morning
Niva S., Rony S. (reporting)
06:30 Agricultural Gate Habla The gates are shut and there are no soldiers. Beyond the fences we see people waiting. On the path between the plant nurseries an armoured car arrives, a girl-soldier opens the gate, the armoured car passes and disappears on the security road. 06:35 We phone the Center. They will investigate… 06:40 Soldiers arrive, they make arrangements for themselves… 06:50 The first three workmen enter the installation, the next three take off their belts while they are still outside, to speed up the passage. After 5 minutes the first three come out. Until 07:05 6 people passed. They complain very much about the slowness of the soldiers. On the other side of the fence about 40 people are waiting, with cars and carts. We turn to the CP commander and complain about the delay in opening the gate and the slowness of the checking. He claims that the opening hours of the CP have been changed and that the Palestinians were notified about it. The new opening hours are: Morning 06:45-08:15, Noon 11:15:12:15, Evening 16:45-18:30. The Palestinians complained a lot about the irregular opening hours in the evening and ask us to come as much as possible in the evening. 07:30 The CP commander goes to the checking installation and a short time later lets people pass at the gate manually, while all the time there are people who pass also through the installation. Many workmen pass. 07:55 We leave the place. Only few people are left. 08:15 Ras Atiya About 15 people wait to leave the village. A few cars wait to enter it. A military policewoman checks the entering persons strictly but politely. She is interested to know who we are, the soldier says – a humanitarian organisation – and this is pleasant to hear. A group of workmen who have work permits for fencing at Alfei Menashe, but for some reason have no passage permits for this CP, are not allowed to leave the village. The matter is being handled by the DCO. 08:45 On the security road an Israeli car arrives at full speed and stops with screeching brakes near the soldiers. An Israeli citizen with an Uzi (or something similar…) hanging on his body gets out of the car, screams at the soldiers, screams at the Palestinians to enters their waiting car. And the two cars, without any checking, disappear in a cloud of dust on the security road – The masters of the land!!!! 10:00 Anabta The traffic light in the direction of Anabta is red, but there are no soldiers and the traffic flows. We see from afar, near the watchtower, a police jeep and a soldiers with a dog, and approach them to see. A Palestinian taxi driver has stopped near the red traffic light and is afraid to continue. Immediately a queue of at least 10 cars is formed. The policemen pass and don't bother to tell the taxi driver that he may drive on as there is no checking, and the soldier re-enters the watchtower although he sees the queue. An Israeli driver who waits in the queue decides that one may drive on, and the queue dissolves. 10:30 We arrive at the Fig Passage (Jubara). I stand in the queue and we undergo a very thorough checking by a policewoman without any sense of humour, who sticks to all the rules and regualtions, including getting out of the car, lifting the rug in the trunk etc.
22/01/2010 ,Morning
Dalia G., Zvia S., Ofra T., Orit D. (reporting)
We set out with Dalia and Zvia for a track including the enclave to the villages surrounding Alfey Menashe, agricultural gates, checkpoints at the entrance to villages, checkpoint on main roads, and we saw the people, stayed at their homes and listened.
The village of Tilath – we met an acquaintance of Dalia (I prefer not to mention his name) who took us via a muddy and tortuous raod to the shut agricultural gate which separates him from his orchard. All along the road he pointed out the milestones with new numbers marked on them in red and blue, or according to his definition: "Ygal arrived with soldiers and they begin marking numbers on the stones for the purpose of paving a road".
We saw the despair on his face, we heard the helplessness in his voice – the meaning of the new marking is another land expropriation, is the inability to reach what will remain in his possession of his olive orchard, which today too he can reach only when the army decided to open the gate.
We were invited for a cup of coffee in the house of the van driver, we sat with his family and heard a lot of anger and bitterness directed also at the leadership of the Authority.
Saniriya – We went through the main road of the village, everybody who passed there waved towards us in greeting. At the outskirts of the village, on a side road, beyond unclear fences, a military commander could be seen. We crossed the muddy road in order to understand who or what he is in charge there, and discovered delusionary sight where the command-car, to which a sort of agricultural instrument was attached in order to conceal the path, drove back and forth, the soldiers outside, fences on both its sides (so that we couldn't reach the soldiers in order to try and understand the purpose of the sight we were witness to).
Sha'ar Tikva CP – A few cars are waiting, first the drivers are checked outside of the vehicle, and only after it is established that they have a permit to enter, their vehicle is checked. For some reason were were not allowed to enter Azzun Atma – The checkpoint commander made it clear that he had a problem authorizing our entrance.
Ras Attiya – While we were waiting for an acquaintance of Dalia on the streed of the village, were entered into a conversation with the local people. There was one unauthorized person (R.) who cannot sustain his family, cannot get work permits, while the agricultural land that he had owned had been confiscated.
Again many complaints about the Authority "the money arrives and the Authority takes it for itself". Every day there are new regulations – an old man who transfers vegetables to his house from the Kalkilya area, told us. The day before he chanced upon an officer called Daniel who left him two options – "either you return the vegetables, or return yourself".
Habala – agricultural gate 1393 – we had coordinated with A. to meet at the gate according to the hours of its opening.
The life in the village of Habala which is close to the Green line, is conducted according to the hours of the opening and closing of the gate. The soldiers arrive three time a day, morning, noon and evening, to direct the movement of the village people.
This week the computer crashed and about forty people were obliged to trundle to the DCO at Kalkilya, only because the soldiers were to lazy to update the manual list of people leaving the village, when the computer functioned again.
Such a visit at the DCO takes about half a working day and fifty shekel for the trip back and forth in a taxi (which is the most feasible was to reach Kalkilya).
28/12/2009 ,Morning
Frances T (reporting) Rony S.
Guests: Tali and Miriam (in preparation for an academic survey)
06.40 Habla
06.41 The gates opened a couple of minutes after we arrive, which means there is a line (albeit short) of Palestinians who have been waiting for the opening. There is a problem with the military computers, which causes a further 10-minute delay. After the problem is solved, things start moving.
07.10 Ras-a-Tiya
We are told that the gates were opened at 6.30. There are no lines.
07.30 Eliyahu crossing
There are no workers waiting, just a trickle of people walking behind the wire fence in the direction of the crossing from the direction on Qalqilya.
We go back the way we came and stop off at Irtah where, at 09.40, there is very little to see and the place is almost empty. We note the "welcome" signs by the road – how incongruous. We show our guests the facility – the efforts at gardening which are shielded from the Palestinians who use the place by enormous concrete blocks, and the overhead guards inside the facility who parade above with their weapons. One of our guests remarks on the similarity to a concentration camp. I tend to agree.
21/12/2009 ,Morning
Niva D., Nina S., Ronny S. (reporting), Yaffa V. – guest Translator: Louise L.
6.25 Agricultural gate (193) The gates are locked and between the fences there is a large shielded army vehicle. A jeep arrives and the soldiers open the gates. The workers pass through immediately without being checked by the magnetometer. The Palestinians greet us claiming that today thanks to us the passage is quick. The soldiers are getting organized and start using the magnetometer, which, of course, makes the passage slower. A Palestinian tries to bring through a tool which is used for cutting stone and which he needs for work in his plant nursery. The soldiers refuse. Nina speaks with the district coordinator, but he also thinks that this tool is unnecessary for work in a plant nursery. However, he will check, since Nina asks him to do so. In the meantime the Palestinian gives up and sends the tool back to his village. People tell us that lately they have not been allowed to bring bicycles, which makes things harder for them. 7.05 Ras Attiya The gate is open and there are no lines in either direction. Our guest, who has been to Tzavta watching the movie about the construction of the fence and the new road in the area, finds it hard to understand the logic of what is going on. We tell her that neither do we understand. 7.20 The Eliyahu Gate There are still workers waiting to be let through. Azun is open. “Shevut Ami” seems abandoned, and we drive on to the Barrel Checkpoint and from there to Anabta. 8.05 Anabta – There are many vehicles, 2 coffee vendors and a small kiosk cart at the junction. We do not stop to find out the reason for the commotion but continue towards the abandoned checkpoint. We do not see any soldiers and the passage is free. I believe that this checkpoint with all its roads, its traffic lights and marking lines might serve as a monument of wasted money and stupidity. We return to the Jit junction to drive on to Huwwara.
16/12/2009 ,Morning
Micky P., Shira V. (reporting)
Translation: Galia S.
Ras Atiya
07:40 – We get to the checkpoint and wait for the bus that ferries the schoolchildren to the village. It arrives 15 minutes later and passes without any special problems. A number of people pass toward the village, as do some vehicles and a couple of farmers with a horse-drawn cart and, on showing documents, they, too, pass without any problems.
Eliyahu Passage / checkpoint 109
08:15 – A young man that we saw at the detaining post when we arrived told us that he has been there since 06:00 in the morning. The soldiers claim that he has been detained for about an hour and a half (which seems really to be the duration of the detention), the reason being some trouble that he has caused. From what the soldiers and he himself say, it turns out that although he has a permit to enter the seam-line zone, he tried to jump over the fence instead of crossing at the pedestrian' passage to avoid the congestion. Micky informs the DCO [District Coordination Office of the IDF Civil Administration that handles passage permits]. And half an hour later he is released and walks toward the pedestrians' passage where some 20 people are still swarming the entrance. The crossing is slow but flowing uninterrupted. The pedestrians here tell us that there was heavy congestion in the morning.
They also draw our attention to a small boy who, according to what they say, has been detained for half an hour. We see the boy waiting in the fenced plot around the inspection caravan of the pedestrians' passage.
He told us he is 11 years old and has been caught on the western side of the checkpoint while waiting for people to come and take him to work. It’s difficult to understand from him what exactly has happened and where he was from. Anyway, he is released within a short time to the western side.
02/12/2009 ,Morning
Nora R., (reporting) Hadas P, guest, Bracha B Translating
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06:00 – Workers who have the right to cross here are crowded on the other side of the Eliyahu Crossing. “The guy in charge of the line” - who does the job on a volunteer basis - says that about 150 workers go through here each morning. Three or four workers are let in each time and it takes 5-8 minutes to check them. They claim that “today everything is OK.” To us it appears to be very slow.
06:50 – Ras Atiya – For some reason (the soldier explains, “There’s a suspicious object) the route opened late and Palestinians began to go through the turnstile leading to the inspection area only after 7:00. At the same time the soldiers began checking vehicles going in both directions. Cars are checked meticulously. One of the soldiers is busy with morning prayers but while is praying he calls to the others and demands that they make us leave. We remained standing where we were and insisted that we were not disturbing anyone. People coming out from being checked undergo another check when they reach the exit gate.
“Were you in one of the rooms?” “Show your certificates…” the soldier ends his prayers cannot restrain himself and continues to shout at us, calling us traitors, claiming that we are stabbing the country in the back, and that we should have “Arab” written on our I.D. cards etc. etc.
The bus with children arrives and when we speak with the driver we understand that he drives children from the Bedouin tribe to school in Qalqilya.
.08:20 – Huwara: It is generally very quiet. The soldiers arrive and warn us not to get close (to what?). Checks are slower at the exit from Nablus and there is a line of cars. There are two cars waiting at the side of the road. The checkpoint commander explains that their I.D.s are being listed for interrogation and they will check and see…The taxi was immediately released and after two minutes the cars were also allowed to leave. The Palestinian shouts to us from his car that he has been detained here since 07:00.
Suddenly an order comes in and meticulous checks begin at the entrance to Nablus. All men’s I.D.s are checked against a list containing three numbers (wanted men?) . After several minutes a line of cars begins to form. One of the inspectors is suspicious and the longer the check takes the longer the line of cars grows. All efforts to move the soldiers are in vain. A phone call to the Humanitarian Hotline does not help at all. We left at 10:25 and counted 105 cars waiting in line! The line continues beyond the entrance to the road leading to the checkpoint.
10:40 – Anabta: Three jeeps are standing next to the tower but no one is being checked.
11:00 Irtah: I show my guest the entrance route and discover that several people have arrived who are trying to get in. The turnstiles are closed and they are not allowed to go in. I couldn’t understand why. We left frustrated (I am not feeling very well.)
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29/11/2009 ,Afternoon
Observers: Susan L. (reporting), Maud M. (guest)
Summary
Netanyahu's announcement, last week, to suspend building activities in the settlements was broadcast all over the world. Although most Israelis accept this is completely phony, few get to see what we do -- that building continues, the army closing its eyes but dominating every bit of life in occupied Palestine. In the areas monitored by us, perhaps the worst aspect is the taking of the land from under the feet of its Palestinian owners, maintaining an insistent and persistent pestering of the inhabitants or landowners of Seam Line communities, the harassment over the granting of Seam Line, and a variety of other, permits and the ongoing construction of a Separation Barrier bringing more and more Palestinian lands into "greater Kfar Saba/greater Israel."
It's the third and last day of Eid al Adha, so, in many places, it's unusually quiet. On the other hand, today is a day to visit family and friends, so there are many families going, or trying to go, in and out of the Seam Line village of Ras Atiya, and there is an endless flow of cars going in and out of Nablus.
12:00 Habla – Gate 1392
The gate is still open, but hardly any customers, as the soldiers gather near the jeep, already at hand to whisk them away after they've finished their arduous powwow and closed the gate at 12:15.
12:45 Ras Atiya
The Seam Line checkpoint is staffed as is usual, one soldier in the lookout tower above the Separation Barrier, the rest, sitting by their makeshift tent, chatting until duty calls, and they check, seemingly as slowly as they can, each pedestrian, each car or truck. Nobody is in the concrete checking booth at the computer today: a gesture towards the Eid al Adha holiday? We wouldn't bet on it…. Just as we arrive, three military police women turn up from the same direction, and as is our wont, we greet them, "Shalom." "We're forbidden to talk to you," says one, and we already know that there will be no allowances made for people trying to celebrate the Muslim holiday. Life here will be as hard as ever for the families, the children, in particular, decked out in new finery, the parents bearing wrapped packages for gift giving elsewhere.
12:55 -- eight people from one family, from an elderly man to tiny toddlers, are stopped, the relevant IDs perused over and over in detail. All pass into the village west of the Separation Barrier after this thorough checking. Coming out of the village, young men's IDs are not only checked but compared against a list in the hands of the soldiers. One young man is involved in an altercation with one of the women, and it's pretty sure that he must be speaking Hebrew, to no avail. When we step forward to the hill beyond the open gate of the checkpoint, we are confronted by another military policewoman and a soldier, telling us over and over that we are forbidden to stand where we are -- positioned in fact to view, in better detail, the horror of the new Separation Wall, being built by Alfe Menashe. It's obvious we will get nowhere with talking to the soldiers below.
The only relief on this winter's day: one of the young boys near us holding a bunch of beautifully soft narcissi newly shot up after the last rains.
Although there is not much action by the Separation Wall being built, there is one earth digger at work and a new sight: an umbrella where two soldiers should be sitting and guarding the Wall. Instead, they are lying on the ground, shooting the breeze.
12:30 Qalqilya
A lot of traffic going into the city, and although there are no soldiers stationed in the checking booth, there is one in the lookout tower at the side of the road.
On Route 55
Azzun is open, and the town appears especially sleepy for the holiday, unlike Nabil Elias which is at work, although minus many of the sheep that were evident just a few days ago!
Qedumim. There is green plastic on view near the cave outpost, and new construction of houses, grey cement blocks clearly visible, on the south side of the road of the settlement proper.
14:45 Shaare Efraim/Irtah
Only one checking booth is open in the terminal, although there are plenty of workers, women, as well as men, returning from their jobs, perhaps early, since it is, after all, a holiday. One woman complains that women and men are in the same line, both at the one and only turnstile; another complains about the wait here, an hour now, several hours this morning. All we can see is that only one checking booth is open inside, and that the folding doors to the other half of the complex are closed. Our phone call to the DCO seems to have some result, in that the waiting crowd is allowed in. We follow a woman with a large tray of strawberries on her head, and it takes her but seven minutes to get through – towards home, wherever that might be.
14:55 -- the turnstile stops, or we should say, is once again stopped, the crowd grows, once more, but is soon let through. As we, too, leave, we see that we have been seen from the window above by someone of the private security company that helps to make life such hell for Palestinians who have the "luck" to have permits to work in Israel.
29/11/2009 ,Afternoon
Susan L. (reporting), Maud M. (guest)
Summary
Netanyahu's announcement, last week, to suspend building activities in the settlements was broadcast all over the world. Although most Israelis accept this is completely phony, few get to see what we do -- that building continues, the army closing its eyes but dominating every bit of life in occupied Palestine. In the areas monitored by us, perhaps the worst aspect is the taking of the land from under the feet of its Palestinian owners, maintaining an insistent and persistent pestering of the inhabitants or landowners of Seam Line communities, the harassment over the granting of Seam Line, and a variety of other, permits and the ongoing construction of a Separation Barrier bringing more and more Palestinian lands into "greater Kfar Saba/greater Israel."
It's the third and last day of Eid al Adha, so, in many places, it's unusually quiet. On the other hand, today is a day to visit family and friends, so there are many families going, or trying to go, in and out of the Seam Line village of Ras Atiya, and there is an endless flow of cars going in and out of Nablus.
12:00 Habla - Gate 1392
The gate is still open, but hardly any customers, as the soldiers gather near the jeep, already at hand to whisk them away after they've finished their arduous powwow and closed the gate at 12:15.
12:45 Ras Atiya
The Seam Line checkpoint is staffed as is usual, one soldier in the lookout tower above the Separation Barrier, the rest, sitting by their makeshift tent, chatting until duty calls, and they check, seemingly as slowly as they can, each pedestrian, each car or truck. Nobody is in the concrete checking booth at the computer today: a gesture towards the Eid al Adha holiday? We wouldn't bet on it.... Just as we arrive, three military police women turn up from the same direction, and as is our wont, we greet them, "Shalom." "We're forbidden to talk to you," says one, and we already know that there will be no allowances made for people trying to celebrate the Muslim holiday. Life here will be as hard as ever for the families, the children, in particular, decked out in new finery, the parents bearing wrapped packages for gift giving elsewhere.
12:55 -- eight people from one family, from an elderly man to tiny toddlers, are stopped, the relevant IDs perused over and over in detail. All pass into the village west of the Separation Barrier after this thorough checking. Coming out of the village, young men's IDs are not only checked but compared against a list in the hands of the soldiers. One young man is involved in an altercation with one of the women, and it's pretty sure that he must be speaking Hebrew, to no avail. When we step forward to the hill beyond the open gate of the checkpoint, we are confronted by another military policewoman and a soldier, telling us over and over that we are forbidden to stand where we are -- positioned in fact to view, in better detail, the horror of the new Separation Wall, being built by Alfe Menashe. It's obvious we will get nowhere with talking to the soldiers below.
The only relief on this winter's day: one of the young boys near us holding a bunch of beautifully soft narcissi newly shot up after the last rains.
Although there is not much action by the Separation Wall being built, there is one earth digger at work and a new sight: an umbrella where two soldiers should be sitting and guarding the Wall. Instead, they are lying on the ground, shooting the breeze.
12:30 Qalqiliya
A lot of traffic going into the city, and although there are no soldiers stationed in the checking booth, there is one in the lookout tower at the side of the road.
On Route 55
Azzun is open, and the town appears especially sleepy for the holiday, unlike Nabil Elias which is at work, although minus many of the sheep that were evident just a few days ago!
Qedumim. There is green plastic on view near the cave outpost, and new construction of houses, grey cement blocks clearly visible, on the south side of the road of the settlement proper.
Deir Sharaf
To prove it's a holiday, the gates of the so-called "barrel" works are locked tightly shut. Traffic, vehicles with both Palestinian and Israeli license plates, green or yellow respectively, flows endlessly in and out of Nablus, and the soldiers at the checkpoint must wonder, as we do, why on earth they are there.
14:45 Shaar Efraim/Irtah
Only one checking booth is open in the terminal, although there are plenty of workers, women, as well as men, returning from their jobs, perhaps early, since it is, after all, a holiday. One woman complains that women and men are in the same line, both at the one and only turnstile; another complains about the wait here, an hour now, several hours this morning. All we can see is that only one checking booth is open inside, and that the folding doors to the other half of the complex are closed. Our phone call to the DCO seems to have some result, in that the waiting crowd is allowed in. We follow a woman with a large tray of strawberries on her head, and it takes her but seven minutes to get through - towards home, wherever that might be.
14:55 -- the turnstile stops, or we should say, is once again stopped, the crowd grows, once more, but is soon let through. As we, too, leave, we see that we have been seen from the window above by someone of the private security company that helps to make life such hell for Palestinians who have the "luck" to have permits to work in Israel.
