Hebron, Sansana (Meitar Crossing), Tue 17.7.12, Morning
Translator: Charles K.
We left relatively late because the vacation and the heat slow life down considerably.
Sansana (Meitar crossing)
Everything looks normal at the Meitar crossing. Five buses on the Palestinian side await people returning from visits to relatives in prison.
Hebron.
As usual. Now Nahal soldiers are there. Everyone feels and mentions they behave more humanely than Golani soldiers.
Curve 160: Intensely active at the checkpoint. It’s very near the turn to the Cave of the Patriarchs; people are stopped on their way to and from the Jebel Johar neighborhood, or those walking on Salamiyya Street just because of its proximity.
A crew from Palesinian TV is filming a story, which makes "our forces" uncomfortable. Another officer. Another jeep. All coming to check, to find out who's here and what's going on. What are they doing? Finally, they permit the filming.
A local acquaintance who’s active in B’Tselem tells us that the Border Police soldiers detain people and make it hard for them without justification. Last Sunday they didn’t allow three girls in wheelchairs to bypass the revolving gate. All they had to do was lift the yellow gate. But why not abuse someone if you can do so? A boy about 8 years old shows us his injured finger, with stitches [see photo, below]. He says he was so frightened that he caught it in the revolving gate. Others describe their own, traumatic experiences.
A guy with a bicycle comes to the checkpoint. Every day he lifts them through over the yellow gate. But lo and behold, today the gate suddenly rises; he manages to retrieve them and bring them through the way you’d expect he’d be able to, without having to hoist them high as he usually does. But today eyes are watching – ours, the TV crew.
The B’Tselem activist tells us that last Tuesday afternoon the settlers climbed onto their roofs and began throwing bricks at people in the casbah.
IDF soldiers stood by them without intervening. What did bother our brave soldiers was the courageous person who filmed it. They yelled at him and chased him. He realized they wouldn’t calm down before they’d taken the tape. So he cleverly removed it, replacing it with one that was blank.
The soldiers caught and beat him while he said to them “Do as you will.” He held out the camera
, but when they removed the tape and discovered it was empty they returned the camera with additional blows and curses. They didn’t arrest him. The tape quickly found its way to where it belonged and has already been shown.
Thus the entire world sees how IDF soldiers allow the settlers to rampage unhindered right before their eyes. We’ll send the tape as soon as we’re able to.
Tarpat checkpoint. Young girls are detained after they walk through the scanner. Soldiers rummage through they bags and release them immediately.
