PM

Abu-Dis, Wadi-Nar 19.1.2004 Watchers: Judith S., Irus B. (reporter) and a guest There could never be enough preparation for the "real thing": the wall, with its massive, grey, presence, conquers and dominates the whole space around it. For a minute I got disoriented, losing track of where I actually was, until I noticed the gas station, a familiar sight within this new urban design, re-locating the eye and the mind. And then came the sigh, a sour feeling in the throat that we are witnessing history in the making and this is a sort of frightening history that will carry a sad sad context years from now. Indeed, this was a strange shift, all in the shade of this wall, "Jadir" as the Palestinians call it. When we approached the area of the gas station in Abu-Dis some 7-10 GREY police officers (does anyone know the meaning of the different color of their uniform?) confronted us, pretty surprised at our presence. We tried to explain we are just in a normal shift, but they explained that the area is closed unless we are reporters or if we live in these houses. Then started the contradictions - one said he has the paper saying it is a closed military zone and he will show it to us if we insist (so we insisted to his anger), the other explained, impatiently, that we were behaving "like little children", that they are here to protect us and that they only don't want the bulldozers harming us... "But what about the reporters", we asked, "are they bulldozer proof?", "and what about the Palestinians, how do they get home, are you not worried about their safety?". These remarks, as usual, didn't help us much. They have orders, they explained "not to let any Jewish Israeli in unless they were reporters". So we waited some 20 min. till Ronen, the regular BP officer, arrived and showed us where we were and where we weren't allowed to go. He explained that since they are now working near El Kuds University we are not allowed to enter that whole part of the hill. We can only go to the direction of the Pishpash gate... Then a lieutenant colonel from BP passed in his Jeep and admitted that the gate is a sad sight, and probably not that useful either... We then looked for local Palestinians to talk with but the area was terribly deserted. So we went up to the Pishpash gate, where the regular taxi drivers were passing time by guessing where the wall would pass, lamenting the financial losses that would be caused by it. We then passed the Pishpash gate - the regular sad pictures of old women and children trying to cross over this now very muddy and slippery path - and took a taxi from its other side to Wadi-Nar (15 shekels if you bargain). Reaching the container there was a mtg of 4 high officers from the Parachute unit, the highest rank being lieutenant colonel Ilan, the deputy brigade commander of Etzion. He was happy to talk with us and explained that this checkpoint is going to be upgraded soon so it will be a lot more "friendly", it will have special, intimate places to check Palestinian women and will even have a roof. He admitted this means it will become a fixed checkpoint, and explained how important this specific checkpoint is since it is on the border b/w B and A territories. He continued to state that there is no reason for Palestinians to get upset from the checkpoints, these are borders and like Ben Gurion airport, where we don't get anxious when we are checked thoroughly, so here - the Palestinians should understand this function. And so we answered them, and then they answered us, until we were all tired of talking to ourselves and they left the place... While the high officers were there the cars passed smoothly and no line was created. Some 30 min. after they had left there were some 20 cars in what formed a half an hour line, and two taxis with some 15 Palestinians (altogether) were detained. When we asked the soldiers for the reason for their intensive search in every car and the detaining of these people they were just willing to say that there was a warning on 2 men that are going to pass... After 55 minutes of strict searching and detainment, the soldiers abruptly changed the policy and allowed all cars to pass, without even looking in their direction. That was strange... In any case this shift of soldiers (esp. Halabi) were polite both with us and with the Palestinians (the next shift that came just as we left were very different, one of them refused to give me his name after he told me "to shove" (etc)...). Getting back to Abu-Dis it seemed like the Taxi drivers didn't get used yet to the new reality of the wall. Our driver got a little confused and so we got stuck in a traffic-jam: a wedding was taking place. So we decided to search the Pishpash gate by foot... But everywhere we reached we could only see this tall 8 meter wall, not able to find the little gate ("Baubab" the Palestinians call it, or something like that). After some 30 min. of wandering around the alleys of Abu-Dis and looking for the entrance to Jerusalem (the way people stared at us we were a very strange sight), we had finally found the light...