Afternoon

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Dec-21-2003
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Qalqiliya and Jubara Checkpoints, Sunday Afternoon, 21 December, 2003Observers: JA, I, A, and welcome to newcomers S and J15:00, Qalqiliya checkpoint:Soldiers on duty: IDF regular conscripts, border volunteers, and IDF MPs.Pedestrian and vehicular passage was on the whole quiet, and we saw noone detained for questioning. Two absurdities: (a) Those coming from Qalqilya are required to pass througha newly erected metal detector -- which does not operate.(b) The ordinary soldiers stand the whole time with their guns pointed at the people passing through.When we pointed out that this was very frightening, their reply was that it was for their own protection and "if we had sons of our own in the army we would understand," etc., etc.But then one of them decided to calm us down and told us "not to worry -- the guns were not loaded." 16:45, Jubara checkpoint:Four people were being held when we arrived and within a very short time the number had grown to 10. Some of these came from Nablus and Jenin, others from neighboring villages, people who had been on their way to or from their fields).The soldier on duty was the same tall,babyish, problematic one we saw two weeks ago (Amir?) He said the men being held were people who had been in Israel illegally, without any permits, and that the police would be coming soon. I told him we had experience in the matter and that we knew that what he was saying was not correct. We spoke to an officer who came by in a jeep and he gave us the samestory. He also said that he looks every day at the MachsomWatch Web site and thatwe "use it to report on the change of guard among the IDF soldiers atthe checkpoints"(!?) -- I explained that this was not so. The Centre for the Defense of the Individual said they could not help the detained men, since they had no permits(?!). The Tulkarm DCO [civil administration office] said they had orders not to work with us. To our great relief, the same officer we had just spoken to now reappeared, read the men a lecture and set them free.My conclusion:It is desirable and well-worth-while to put pressure on the soldiers at the checkpoint to have them free those they have detained-- this is often more effective than appealing to those with more authority or to the DCO.