Abu Dis, Container (Wadi Nar), Ras Abu Sbitan (Olive Terminal), Sheikh Saed, Wed 22.7.09, Morning
We saw a detained man when we arrived. He told us he was detained for about an hour and a quarter because he had parked close to the checkpoint, on the other side of the road (the Jabel Mukhaber side) where there is no sign to forbid parking. The military policeman, A., who saw us, came up to the detainee and told him he would be released within a short time, and indeed within minutes his blue (!) ID was returned and he was released, not before a lengthy reprimand telling him that although there is no sign, there are plastic strips with the Israeli Police logo tied between the posts, sufficient indication that parking is forbidden. The detainee continued to explain (in Hebrew) that there is no sign, and at a certain point the soldier admitted something like: "perhaps it's an oversight and I'll address the matter to our transportation department to be remedied."
After the detainee departed, we asked the soldier how one addresses such a department and whether he had done so, but he refused to talk to us. The detainee had told us that while he had waited, the soldier had done nothing about releasing him, but had busied himself with "eating and all sorts of other things". The detainee did not want to submit a complaint, but we did so later with the prompt assistance of Hannah B. In our opinion, the man's possession of a blue ID only emphasizes the gravity of the event.
08:30 Zeitim Crossing
We did not enter the checkpoint, which appeared tranquil.
08:45 Wadi Nar
We saw 5 detained transits, 4 headed north and 1 south. In reply to our inquiry we were told they had been waiting 1-1/2 hr., except for the last one in the line headed north, which had been waiting about 45 minutes.
In contrast to our previous week's report when we met the reserve soldier who spoke of his sense of "service" and his aim "to calm down the youngsters", the reserve soldier this time was hostile.