Deir Sharaf, Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim), Jubara (Kafriat), Thu 10.12.09, Afternoon
Translator: Louise L.
Human Rights Day
Question: Have Physicians for Human Rights given their response regarding the way inspections are performed in the “closed rooms” at the checkpoints?
An army jeep with a flickering light on its roof overtakes us on road 60 towards the Burin junction.
13.10
At the turn to Havat Gilad an army vehicle is parking next to the road.
13.20
The Barrel Checkpoint – No vehicles are being stopped in either direction.
13.25Anabta – No vehicles are being stopped for checking.
13.35
Jubara – A large number of vehicles are being checked on their entrance to Israel.
13.40
Irtah – The checkpoint is not crowded. The workers are returning home for the weekend.Again the Palestinians raise the problem of having to wait for the checking in the morning and being late for their transportation. They miss workdays even when they reach the checkpoint very early. One man tells us that 30 workers were put into a “room”, where they were crowded together and forgotten. They just could not stand waiting any longer, so he hit the door hard, until somebody remembered to check them. Of course he was punished. He missed a workday. Actually he did not really regret missing a day of work, “but they treat us like animals”, he said.
We complained to HaMoked – Center for the Defense of the Individual about the humiliating treatment of the workers at the checkpoint. We were told that when the workers return from work on Friday, it is impossible to let them through as on every other day – they are told to wait under a roof until a group of 30-40 people have gathered and only then are they let in for checking. (In order to cut down the number of guards on Friday?) They asked us to come and look.
A girl is passing the checkpoint with her father and brother. She is wearing a golden paper crown with a spinning top on her head …for Channuka. They are coming back from a medical checkup at the hospital where such crowns were given to the children to celebrate the holiday. We will send a picture.
14.37
Eyal – The checkpoint is not crowded.