morning

Jubara, Wednesday morning, December 31, 2003 Observers: NA, EA, MD 07:30 – 07:45 (southern Tulkarm crossing, near Kfar Artach)The gates are open, soldiers are relaxed and friendly, there’s a calm atmosphere.A pavement for pedestrians has been laid down at the crossing, on the side of the main gates. On the Israeli side, a few employers are waiting for workers, on the other side – just a few workers. The Israeli employers said that the gate was opened at 07:00, but because of the closure and the absolute prohibition to cross over to the Israeli side the day before, the workers didn’t show up. They’ll probably show up later, once the rumour gets out that crossing is allowed today.Actually, this time we started from this gate, because we wanted to check the workers crossing in the morning, but we’ll have to do it another day.The goods crossing is operating without disturbances.In the short time we were there, we didn’t see any Israeli citizens crossing over for family visits on the other side.07:55 – 10:55 – Jubara checkpoint At this checkpoint, the soldiers have been reinforced by reservists and a volunteer Border policeman. According to the checkpoint commander, who’s a sergeant, a closure is in force today. Only ambulances, teachers, medical staff, and students are going through the checkpoint, from its east side to the north. And only residents of Jubara with a special permit can cross over. Movement is sparse, and by 09:00 not many people are waiting. Two detainees are sitting at one side, not fettered. Both the checkpoint commander and the detainees themselves say they’ve been there since 07:00. They are residents of A-Ram who tried to get through to Tulkarm through the citrus groves. They were caught by the soldiers and are being “taught a lesson”. Our requests to the checkpoint commander and soldiers to release them are fruitless. We take a short walk around the village. Conversations with Jubara residents reveal that this morning the children’s crossing worked without hitches. But we heard again what previous reports described - about the children waiting by the gate for over 2 hours in pouring rain, a few days ago. There’s no change in the procedures for Jubara residents crossing via the checkpoint.- In principle: people cross over in both directions, to and from the village; all Jubara residents who received and collected their DCO permits, with or without vehicles, in accordance with the permit. Though people who didn’t receive a permit are entitled to leave Jubara, they can’t return there.- In fact: people with permits aren’t always entitled to leave the village. In some cases, people say, they don't get through. It seems that it depends on the situation of closures due to alerts. At any case, when a Jubara resident wants to get through by car, the papers of all the passengers are checked. If one of the passengers has no permit from the DCO, the vehicle doesn’t get through, not only the person who lacks a permit, and the same is true when leaving the village, not only when entering it. During our shift, we saw evidence of this - the car of the head of the Jubara local council’s was turned back (they tried to get through to the direction of Tulkarm) because of some discrepancy, perhaps a mistake, in the permit of one of the passengers.- Citizens who didn’t collect their DCO permits are sometimes allowed over - it depends on the general situation (closure or not) and on the specific soldier. From time to time, we try to persuade the checkpoint commander to release the detainees. Since we prefer that they aren’t transferred onwards, our discussion relates to the significance and pointlessness of that “teaching a lesson”, and attempts to get them released as soon as possible. They are released at 10:50. The behaviour of the checkpoint commander and of some of his soldiers to people trying to get through is in most cases totally impatient, condescending, lacking all compassion and respect. We witness shouts that are unjustified (apart, perhaps, from the pressure the soldiers are under) and answers given in a humiliating tone. Again and again, we ask the soldiers to change their tone. Sometime, for a short time, it helps.Observation:- Ambulances get through quickly, without hitches, but other than them, the soldiers consider nothing else to be a humanitarian case.- A woman resident of Tulkarm with three children tries to get home after visiting her family in the Qalqiliya area. She is turned down, and when she continues pleading – gets rough responses. Following our failed attempt to assist, we contact Avi from the humanitarian Moked. He promises to deal with the matter, and half an hour later she gets through.- Parents with a 2-year old and a newborn baby, residents of the Sur village, are trying to get to Tulkarm. Their older daughter has a heart condition, and has been referred to the hospital in Tulkarm at 10:30 for consultations with an expert cardiologist from the USA. One of the soldiers peeps at the blanket with the baby in her mother’s arms (he’s “checking” that it really is a baby) and eventually decides: “They’re not crossing. They can go to the doctor another day, if they want.” We get involved, try to persuade the checkpoint commander how important it is to let humanitarian cases like this one get through; we talk to Dalia, the health coordinator, who right away starts working on the matter; we talk to an ambulance driver who’s crossing the checkpoint by chance, and ask if it’s possible, without payment (the family doesn’t have money) to get an ambulance for the family. Ultimately, the family is given a crossing permit, the checkpoint commander is also convinced, and in addition an ambulance from Tulkarm arrives and takes the family to the hospital, without charge. Despite the positive outcome, the family waited at the checkpoint for over an hour.- We try to deal with the transit of some women from villages east of the crossing to Tulkarm. One of them must get to a clinic, because her test results are problematic and she needs an injection or injections. She has no referral, only the test results. After an absolute refusal, we again contact Dalia. At one point, the woman receives a permit to go through from the checkpoint commander, but when a soldier intervenes - he retracts it. Before we managed to get back to Dalia, the women are desperate, since language problems prevent us from communicating with them, and they leave. Twenty minutes later, they and some more women – five in all – are brought to the checkpoint by the soldiers as detainees. The soldiers say they tried to cross to Tulkarm through the groves.- A man who insists that he must get to Tulkarm is shouted at by a soldier who claims “I told them that no one’s crossing today” and his permit is taken away. Our immediate reaction causes the soldier to return his permit, on the spot, and the man leaves. Before we leave, we try to ask the checkpoint commander not to prolong the detention of the women.Two more things: According to the information we were given (which E checked once again by phone):1. In cases of medical problems that we encounter at the checkpoints in the area, we can contact the medical facility in Tulkarm, where a doctor is available, and on a needs basis, he can recommend solutions - including the option of s ending an ambulance, without payment, to the sick person at the checkpoint. The number to phone is 09-2675510. A Red Crescent ambulance can be ordered at the number 09-2675214. People with medical referrals to hospital do not have to pay for the ambulance. Moreover, people who are hospitalized don’t have to pay, even if they weren’t referred by a doctor. One can also directly contact a paramedic called Adi, who works at the Red Crescent in Tulkarm, at 052-502202. 2. While we were at the checkpoint, a commercial vehicle – number 56-676-64 – arrived with the words Tzevet Hilutz Shomron (Samaria Rescue Team) on it. The man sitting next to the driver jumped out, and rapidly photographed our faces with a small camera, from a distance of two metres. Before we could react, he got back in to the truck and drove off on the road towards Israeli territory. It seemed suspicious. Can we find out what this company is, what is the car, and who was the passenger?Written by MD.