Reihan, Shaked, Sat 9.10.10, Morning
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Observers:
Ruthy T., Rachel H. (reporting)
Oct-9-2010
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Morning
06:55 Reihan
Who gains from the occupation? This time - the new turnstile: so it's the Kalram Company.
07:00 "Beginning of the flow." Four private cars are already waiting to enter the vehicle inspection area. We saw that the vehicle inspection area is now also protected by means of an electric arm. Pedestrians began to enter at about 7:05; until 07:20, about 180 people "were streamed" into the seamline zone. (The call to enter "five, five; enough -five" makes it possible to count.) The instructions are thrown out to them in a calm male voice: "Reeeeeturn, don't touch, what-do-you-have-in-your-hand? Back, put it down, go ahead, I said one at a time!!! why six? go back, what did I tell you?! One at a time!! How many did I say? Five, five, why are eight coming in?"
At the exit from the inspection rooms - inside the terminal two windows were open and the queue proceeded relatively quickly. People came out quite calmly. The seamstresses who reached the yellow gate at 07:10 left the sleeve
at 07:30. A few go through the new turnstile (you just have to touch it, and it turns automatically). For many of those who come out it is more convenient to go through the turnstile that they know, even though they have to bend down and go under the fence in order to get to the water fountain that is stuck there. The traffic in the sleeve continues. Near the yellow entrance gate there is no queue, and the corridors also appear to be empty.
07:45 The minibus from Barta'a: Now there is the ritual of "ironing" the documents facing the guard at the post with his rifle drawn. At 08:00 the minibus goes on its way. The vehicle inspection area is closed; people who went through a quarter of an hour ago or more are waiting for cars to emerge. One of them, a tradesman from Barta'a jokes: When he traveled to China, he presented his passport once when he went away and once when he came back. And today it takes more than two hours to cover the ten minute distance between Yaabed and Barta'a , and he will have to present his document five or ten times.
08:10 The yellow arm rises. One of the drivers opens the gate and seven cars come out and collect their passengers.
At the exit from the inspection rooms - inside the terminal two windows were open and the queue proceeded relatively quickly. People came out quite calmly. The seamstresses who reached the yellow gate at 07:10 left the sleeve
at 07:30. A few go through the new turnstile (you just have to touch it, and it turns automatically). For many of those who come out it is more convenient to go through the turnstile that they know, even though they have to bend down and go under the fence in order to get to the water fountain that is stuck there. The traffic in the sleeve continues. Near the yellow entrance gate there is no queue, and the corridors also appear to be empty.07:45 The minibus from Barta'a: Now there is the ritual of "ironing" the documents facing the guard at the post with his rifle drawn. At 08:00 the minibus goes on its way. The vehicle inspection area is closed; people who went through a quarter of an hour ago or more are waiting for cars to emerge. One of them, a tradesman from Barta'a jokes: When he traveled to China, he presented his passport once when he went away and once when he came back. And today it takes more than two hours to cover the ten minute distance between Yaabed and Barta'a , and he will have to present his document five or ten times.
08:10 The yellow arm rises. One of the drivers opens the gate and seven cars come out and collect their passengers.
The 'check-point-er' who will have to shut the gate by himself, looks carefully around the gate, and locks it from inside.
08:15, We left (thirteen Transits are waiting for passengers).
08:15, We left (thirteen Transits are waiting for passengers).
Shaked
a. On Friday, 8.10.10, in the afternoon, Revital phoned in this report:
At 17:30, Hatib from Daher el Malek called and told me that the soldiers at CP300 had damaged his brother Muhammed's car very badly. He called the DCO and there he was told, "The soldiers are allowed to do whatever they feel like doing." I called the DCO at Salem (04-6407312); Shadi answered and tried to connect me with his commander. The commander did not answer, because he was driving to the CP. When I asked Shadi if he could, after all, tell me what he knows, until I can talk to the commander, he said that the soldiers had closed the CP because somebody had left his car in the middle of the road.
I called Hatib to tell him that the DCO commander, Samir, was on his way to the CP. It turned out that he had already arrived, that there were about thirty or forty soldiers at the CP telling his brother to go and have the car fixed at his own expense; that no one cares that the vehicle was apparently damaged when they moved it from the road. He also said that the CP was now open and the traffic jam that had formed was now dispersing little by little.
I was not there, so I do not know how to describe any more of what happened.
I was not there, so I do not know how to describe any more of what happened.
He was happy about a proposal to help him file a complaint about the damages.
b. Saturday Morning 08:25
Five male soldiers and two women soldiers and no flag. It seem that the soldiers have a lot of free time (two-three years in the regular army) to waste on the residents of the district who want to go through. It seems that everything is happening in slow motion -- and this will be confirmed later by the people going through. The black net has been taken down.
08:50 A white car crosses the gate; the driver stops and asks to talk to us. The young man talked and talked and talked about this CP which is stuck in the everyday life of the residents of the district, and especially those of Daher el-Malek and Tura - and on their land. Today he is working as a driver. He told us that this morning he arrived from Nablus and stood at the entrance to the CP near Tura from 7:00 to 08:50 (the hour at which we met). We asked him about what had happened on Friday. He was not there, but knew that because of the damage done to M.'s car, all the residents of the village brought their permits to the CP and asked to hand them over to the DCO, and because of this protest, they were promised that there would be a discussion in Salem about their demands.
After this, he went on with stories about difficulties in the past (some of them known to us). He spoke about all the trouble that there is these days. Shir, the M.P. Commander at the CP acts toward the people as if she is God talking down to rags. If an "old-sick-dead-moving with difficulty" person arrives, she insists that he go through the inspection pavilion. The asthmatic girl is still obligated to go through the pavilion. On 12.09.10 at 14:50 they closed the two gates of the CP, and notified the people that they have to clean the area of the CP between the gates, and that they will not be allowed to go through befor they finish cleaning. "What is this? Are we their cleaning laborers?" He did not clean! But he took pictures (the pictures are attached to this report).
Once, while he was entering the inspection pavilion and waiting there, he saw two soldiers (a man and a woman) caressing and kissing (his description of the sight was hesitant and apologetic). "Me - I don't care! Let them do whatever they want to. But what about my wife? And what about our children?"
Two male soldiers and two women soldiers complied with our request and came to the gate. After their first amazement at the question about the Friday incident, Shir, the Commander of the Military Police, described an unimportant argument between herself and the man whose car was damaged -- because of the unnecessary stubbornness of the owner of the car. A soldier who was presented as religious (so that we shouldn't take his picture on the Sabbath) claimed that everything that we heard derives from arguments and long-standing internal conflicts of the Palestinians themselves.
Shir declared, "I know that I am completely at peace with what I do. I'm guarding my state." And she added: "Madam, it's impossible to change the world." After this declaration, the four soldiers returned to their post. And then, when we were about to leave the place, a man with a child came out, and told us that yesterday, instead of inspecting him and letting him go through, he saw the male soldier "playing" with the woman soldier. And he added that he complained to the officer. It is not clear to whom he complained, because he left immediately before we could ask for more details.
Five male soldiers and two women soldiers and no flag. It seem that the soldiers have a lot of free time (two-three years in the regular army) to waste on the residents of the district who want to go through. It seems that everything is happening in slow motion -- and this will be confirmed later by the people going through. The black net has been taken down.
A soldier sits inside the concrete three sided square
without any cover, with his rifle drawn. Mothers with children in carriages have gone through. We tried to find out about the incident with the vehicle on Friday evening. From a telephone call, we understood that M. is having the car repaired in Barta'a and that on Sunday or Monday, there will be a discussion in Salem about the demands of the residents of Daher-el Malek.08:50 A white car crosses the gate; the driver stops and asks to talk to us. The young man talked and talked and talked about this CP which is stuck in the everyday life of the residents of the district, and especially those of Daher el-Malek and Tura - and on their land. Today he is working as a driver. He told us that this morning he arrived from Nablus and stood at the entrance to the CP near Tura from 7:00 to 08:50 (the hour at which we met). We asked him about what had happened on Friday. He was not there, but knew that because of the damage done to M.'s car, all the residents of the village brought their permits to the CP and asked to hand them over to the DCO, and because of this protest, they were promised that there would be a discussion in Salem about their demands.
After this, he went on with stories about difficulties in the past (some of them known to us). He spoke about all the trouble that there is these days. Shir, the M.P. Commander at the CP acts toward the people as if she is God talking down to rags. If an "old-sick-dead-moving with difficulty" person arrives, she insists that he go through the inspection pavilion. The asthmatic girl is still obligated to go through the pavilion. On 12.09.10 at 14:50 they closed the two gates
of the CP, and notified the people that they have to clean the area of the CP between the gates, and that they will not be allowed to go through befor they finish cleaning. "What is this? Are we their cleaning laborers?" He did not clean! But he took pictures (the pictures are attached to this report).Once, while he was entering the inspection pavilion and waiting there, he saw two soldiers (a man and a woman) caressing and kissing (his description of the sight was hesitant and apologetic). "Me - I don't care! Let them do whatever they want to. But what about my wife? And what about our children?"
Two male soldiers and two women soldiers complied with our request and came to the gate. After their first amazement at the question about the Friday incident, Shir, the Commander of the Military Police, described an unimportant argument between herself and the man whose car was damaged -- because of the unnecessary stubbornness of the owner of the car. A soldier who was presented as religious (so that we shouldn't take his picture on the Sabbath) claimed that everything that we heard derives from arguments and long-standing internal conflicts of the Palestinians themselves.
Shir declared, "I know that I am completely at peace with what I do. I'm guarding my state." And she added: "Madam, it's impossible to change the world." After this declaration, the four soldiers returned to their post. And then, when we were about to leave the place, a man with a child came out, and told us that yesterday, instead of inspecting him and letting him go through, he saw the male soldier "playing" with the woman soldier. And he added that he complained to the officer. It is not clear to whom he complained, because he left immediately before we could ask for more details.
09:30 We left.