Tarqumiya

Tarqumiya Monday morning, 6 December 2004 Observers: Evelyn, Gillie P"O (reporting)We arrived at 5:30 and left at 6:50.When we arrived there were a few Transits [multipassenger taxi-vans] waiting for more workers to come. The workers greeted us with a “Good morning! The soldiers in the checkpoint shout at us to be identified, and ask for our ID's. When we ask why do we have to do so, one of the soldiers (A') answered that we “…cross through [his] barriers, that's why." When we continued, we overheard the other soldier say that "We [have to] wake up so early in the morning for Arabs.”10 workers were waiting at the barrier, only for 5 min. as they told us. However, despite the fact that no cars, trucks or people were crossing, the soldiers did not let other workers to pass. We waited for a few min. and asked the soldiers for the reason. We were answered that they wait for all the Transits that already passed to leave before they will let more workers to cross. We explained that these Transits [prearranged rides to a particular workplace] are waiting for specific workers and will not leave until they come. We are not sure whether it helped or not, but after a few min. they called some more workers [to approach for checking].The attitude toward the workers was harsh. For example, while 35 workers were standing in a quite straight line the soldier shout at them to stand still in a line. They called only 2 workers at a time, which took a long time.At 05:55 we saw about 20 workers leave the line. We understood that they did not have the proper tasrikhs [authorized passage permit] and they knew about it. They told us that they went to the DCO [IDF Civil Administration in the Territories, that issues passage permits] and hope to get the new licenses soon.Until 6:15 all of the workers have left. Some of them showed us their new tasrikhs (dated from Dec.1, 2004 till March 1, 2005) and said that they hope they will have indeed 3 full months of work because a new closure [IDF-imposed area-wide passage prohibition] means that these licenses won’t valid again. We talked a bit about the coming elections and their influence on the workers.Before we left we had to deal with a sad story. A laborer (M') had a tasrikh from dated Nov. 10 and the soldiers did not let him through. We understood that sometimes, when there are kind, compassionate soldiers, they let him pass. He had gone to the DCO but he needs the assistance of his employer in order to get a new tasrikh. He seemed quite sure that his boss wouldn’t help him (may be because he wasn't so young). We asked Muin [the CP commander] to take care of it. He sent a very nice officer that explained that they couldn’t do anything about it. He was kind and full of empathy. We had to let M' understand that we cannot help his this time.