Beit Iba

BEIT IBA, Tuesday 7 December 2004 PMObservers: Lee A., Rachel B-A., Horit H-P., Pit'hia A., Hannah C. (reporting) Guests: Manuella D. (journalist) , Eyal A., photographer (preparing an article on Machsomwatch members) colour=red>13:20 — When we arrived at the checkpoint, there were 14 detainees in the "pen" which had been fenced off by one Beit Iba's more creative innovations — the type of barbed wire coils used in sigh-security prisons. [Detainees are, typically, men aged from 16 to 30 or 35 who have no passage permits; recently, young women, too, have been detained. The detainees' ID details are phoned through to the General Security Services (GSS, also known as the Shabak or the Shin Bet, the Hebrew acronym for the GSS) for checking against a central list of security suspects and the answers are then relayed back to the checkpoints. This cumbersome process can take considerable time, and that can be prolonged even more if the soldiers wait to accumulate a batch of ID cards before passing them on to the GSS , or if they behave in a similarly tardy manner at the end of the process, waiting until they have a batch of GSS clearances before they release individual detainees. Meanwhile, the detainees are virtually prisoners at the checkpoint where the soldiers retain the ID cards until the entire process is completed]. One of the detainees claimed he'd been there since 08:00 (the checkpoint commander said he'd been held only since 11:00 ). Detention for four hours was his punishment (sanctioned from above ) for trying to "infiltrate" (i.e. slip past the checkpoint unseen).We had the good luck to witness the touching ‘comeback’ of our long-lost brother, ex-checkpoint commander A., who , after having had so many complaints lodged against him, had now been given some vague post which he interpreted as that of mobile ‘head-hunter’: it is not hard to imagine a meeting between him and a lone ‘infiltrator’ in the hills (in the past, one of the prisoners complained that A. had threatened to see to it that he'd be raped in the night).A Palestinian presented a pass which had lapsed a week ago, claiming he'd already requested a new document. A. tore it up demonstratively, explaining that otherwise it would be turned into a "new" pass by the simple expedient of forging the date. The Palestinian, who said that he'd been working in Tel Aviv for the past five years, hadn't yet completely internalized his status as a perpetual suspect by dint of his nationality, and was furious. Meanwhile, a bus driver accused of a parking offence was condemned by a ‘summary army court’, and detained (the equivalent of a traffic fine in a certain neighbouring state).There were also some, albeit slight, consolations: the bus driver was eventually released (perhaps partly through our intervention). A. went on his way. A woman soldier checked the women through efficiently and politely.16:00 — We left . At the road block alongside [the settlement of] Tapuah, a representative of the State of Israel (an elderly soldier – perhaps a volunteer?) gave a demonstration of our famous Israeli civil equality: we were not asked about the suspect nationality of Ihab [our Israeli- Arab driver] and we were all required to show our ID cards.