Bethlehem, Fri 11.6.10, Morning
08.30 – 11.00
Many Palestinians pass through, mainly older people. Passage through the checkpoint is quick on the Israeli side : two inspection stations are in operation, and the female soldiers process the people skilfully. Some of the Palestinians automatically stretch out their hand towards the finger-print machine, but lo and behold it isn’t there . . . has the era of the biometric inspection ended ?
There is a changeover of the shifts. – the new sokdier is slightly stricter but still passes people through relatively fast; however on the Palestinian side the shouts of an impatient and ill-behaved female soldier can be heard.
A very old woman, shriveled and wrinkled arrives unaccompanied. She doesn’t have any papers – no ID or permit – and the soldier refuses to let her pass. We ask the soldier to request the checkpoint commander to come to examine her and decide. The soldier speaks to his commander over the telephone, and the latter orders her to be sent back to Bethlehem.
A family comprising an elderly couple, and apparently their grown-up children and grand-children arrive. They all pass-through except the elderly father. The rest of the family become angry and the female soldier calls for the security guard, who explains to the father that his permit ( a trader’s permit) is no longer valid. He also tells him to go to the civil admiistration office, but his son knows that it is closed on Fridays, and he will have to wait until Sunday. All the family members’ faces reflect their disappointment ! The elderly man has no option but to return home, and the rest of the family leave in the direction of Bethlehem. Once again our couragous soldiers have thwarted the desperate attempt of these Palestinians to live a normal life. . .
We travel to Beit Ummar to get a Palestinian’s signature and to receive from him a sum to pay for a lawyer’s services in order to get his GSS restriction rescinded.
Another passing Palestinian turns to us for help : he tells us that soldiers came in the night and took his son’s car, and he is helpless. We tell him that he must go to the civil administration
office, and to be on the safe side we also give him the telephone number of someone who can help him in this matter.
On the Friday of last week, 4.6.10, I forgot to send a report. Because of the closure following the “the flotilla affair” there was almost no traffic of Palestinians through the checkpoint. They have learned from experince during previous closures and didn’t bother to come to the checkpoint. There were mainly international activists.